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Electric car brand Rivian has been facing issues lately, with a 2021 fourth quarter loss of $3.4 billion due to production issues, triggering a sharp fall in its share price.
Automakers have faced multiple challenges over the last couple of years, like the global pandemic, a chip crisis, and many other issues. So, Rivian isn’t alone here.
Nevertheless, as a start-up company in an ever-evolving and difficult climate, there have been rumours that the company might cut as many as 700 employees.
Following this, Rivian’s CEO R.J. Scaringe has confirmed that there will be job losses.
In a letter addressed to Rivian employees, the CEO said: “We’ve implemented changes across Rivian, including prioritizing certain programs (and stopping some), halting certain non-manufacturing hiring and adopting major cost down efforts to reduce material spend and operating expenses.”
“We also began the process of aligning the organization as a whole to ensure we are as focused, nimble and efficient as possible to achieve our priorities and objectives,” he added.
Despite this, the CEO was clear that the company is “financially well positioned” and its “outlook remains strong.”
But he did add that “to fully realize our objectives it is critical that our strategy supports our sustainable growth.”
“Rivian is not immune to the current economic circumstances, and we need to make sure we can grow sustainably,” wrote Scaringe. “Every decision about our team is being assessed through the lens of our strategic priorities, not as a mechanism to simply reduce costs.”
While the letter did confirm exactly how many job cuts there would be, reports are that the company may see an overall reduction of five percent. The company currently employs 14,000 people, meaning, there could be as many as 700 people.
The company has several offices in the US, such as California, Michigan, and Illinois, as well as in the U.K. and Canada. Last year, the automaker doubled its staff to keep up with its production ramp-up.
Scaringe reiterated that the company will continue to ramp up production of the R1T and R1S, as well as accelerate the development of the R2 series, ramping up its “go-to-market capabilities.” The company will also be focussing on optimizing costs and operating expenses for the next 18 months.
Keyword: Job cuts for Rivian employees, confirms CEO