Amazon announced a big Q4 Earnings beat helped by a gain on its investment in the EV startup Rivian. Through a SEC notice filed yesterday, Amazon disclosed that it held 158,36 Million shares of Rivian Automotive, a 18.1% stake in the U.S. Automaker.
The e-commerce company also revealed that it holds a 5% stake in Aurora Innovation Inc., which specializes in autonomous driving technology for cars and trucks plus a 20% stake in Air Transport Services Group. Amazon reported fourth-quarter profit of $14.3 billion, or $27.75 a share with the $11.8 billion gain on Rivian included. Sales grew to $137.4 billion from $125.56 billion the year before.
Amazon shares jumped more than 14% in after-hours trading following release of the results, despite the 7.8% decline during the session, closing at $2,776.91.
Recently, Rivian said it expects to soon be delivering as many as 200 electric R1T pickup trucks per week – quadrupling its production rate from where it was some weeks ago, and putting it on track to surpass 10,000 pickups manufactured this year.
Last December, the company recently announced that COO (Chief operating officer) departed from the company Rivian Automotive, Inc. produced 1,015 vehicles by the end of 2021. 920 vehicles were delivered by that date. The company had warned last month that would likely fall a few hundred short of its goal to build 1,200 vehicles last year.