Get All Access for $5/mo

Elon Musk Responds to Tesla Competitor's Stellar IPO Electric vehicle automaker Rivian achieved a market cap that makes it more valuable than the legacy automakers Ford and General Motors.

By Chloe Arrojado Edited by Amanda Breen

Bloomberg | Getty Images

On Wednesday, electric vehicle automaker Rivian debuted on the stock market with a market cap of more than $100 billion.

Naturally, people turned to Twitter for Elon Musk's perspective on the blockbuster IPO. One user compared Tesla's IPO to Rivian's tweeting, "When $TSLA IPOed at a value of $1.7 billion they had been selling Roadster for 2 years & had stunned the world with Model S reveal the year before. No criticism of Rivian, but 24 hours into IPO MC is $100B with zero revenue. A sign of the times @elonmusk?"

Musk responded by pointing out that Tesla has been the only carmaker to reach high-volume production and positive cash flow in the last century.

Related: Elon Musk's Fortune Drops $50 Billion in Two Days

Rivian raised around $12 billion in its IPO, setting the record for this year's largest initial public offering in the world. Rivian is now the second most valuable U.S. car manufacturer after Tesla.

This IPO makes the company even more valuable than Ford (market cap $77 billion) and General Motors (market cap $90 billion). Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe wrote about taking on the car industry in Rivian's IPO prospectus.

"We began thinking about the truck, SUV, and crossover segments as they presented a massive opportunity for us to demonstrate how a clean sheet, technology-focused vehicle could eliminate long accepted compromises," Scaringe wrote. "We wanted to establish our brand by delivering a combination of efficiency, on-road performance, off-road capability, functional utility, and product refinement that simply didn't exist in the market."

Despite never recording revenue, the company says it has 55,400 preorders for its R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck and a contract to build 100,000 electric vans with Amazon by 2030.

Rivian's IPO is a much different picture than when Tesla went public in 2010. At that time, Musk's company had already been selling its Roadster model for two years with plans to roll out the Model S. On the other hand, Rivian just started selling its vehicles and has reported a net loss of almost $1 billion in the first half of 2021.

Related: Elon Musk Says Tesla, Unlike Apple, Won't 'Bludgeon Competitors'

Chloe Arrojado

Entrepreneur Staff

Editorial Assistant

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

The Side Hustle He Started in His College Apartment Turned Into a $70,000-a-Month Income Stream — Then Earned Nearly $2 Million Last Year

Kyle Morrand and his college roommates loved playing retro video games — and the pastime would help launch his career.

Business News

A Former Corporate Lawyer Now Makes Six Figures on YouTube — Here's How She Does It

Here are the secrets to starting and growing a successful YouTube channel, according to a YouTuber with millions of subscribers.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Growing a Business

How to Determine The Ideal Length of Your Marketing Emails Your Customers Will Actually Read

Wondering how long your marketing emails should be? Here's what consumers say — so you can send them exactly what they like.

Business News

Y Combinator Helped Launch Reddit, Airbnb and Dropbox. Here's What I Learned From Its Free Startup School.

The famed startup accelerator offers a free course on building a business — and answers five pressing questions for founders.