By Chester Dawson and Ed Ludlow | Bloomberg
Irvine-based Rivian Automotive is reducing its headcount by 6% in a cost-savings measure but sparing assembly line workers at its sole operational plant in Normal, Illinois, from the cutbacks.
The startup electric-vehicle maker is notifying staff impacted by the belt-tightening measure on Wednesday, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg. It said the move targeted employees across the company, except for “manufacturing jobs in Normal.”
“To deliver over the long-term, we must focus our resources on ramp and our path to profitability while ensuring we have the right set of future products, services and technology,” Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe wrote in the memo.
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The workforce reduction is the second in the last year for the EV maker and represents around 800 employees. Rivian had around 14,000 staff globally before the latest trim. It follows a round of layoffs in July when Rivian made cuts of a similar scale.
Rivian was the worst-performing stocks on Nasdaq 100 in 2022. It fell short of its target to build 25,000 EVs last year across its two consumer models and a delivery van for Amazon.com Inc. Rivian shares fell 4.2% at 12:15 p.m. in New York trading.
The job cuts were reported earlier by Reuters.