Volkswagen bumped Amazon from the top spot to become Rivian’s largest shareholder, new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show.
VW Group’s growing equity stake in Rivian, which has risen from 8.6% to 15.9% in less than two years, is linked to a joint venture with the EV startup. The Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture — officially established in November 2024 — focuses on electrical architecture and software development.
And that share will continue to grow as Rivian continues to live up to its end of the bargain.
VW has committed to investing $5.8 billion in Rivian, capital that is unlocked as certain milestones are met. The German automaker kicked off the deal with an initial investment of $1 billion, followed by another $1 billion in mid-2025.
Rivian received another $1 billion last month after completing winter testing of the VW ID.EVERY1, a small four-door hatchback that will be the consortium’s first vehicle equipped with its software and electrical architecture.
The latest SEC filingsfiled on Monday, show VW Group now owns 209.7 million Rivian shares.
Amazon, a longtime supporter and customer, owns 12.28% of Rivian. Amazon was an early backer of Rivian, investing $700 million in the company when it was still a private company. The company disclosed in 2021, before Rivian’s IPO, that it held a 20% stake in Rivian. Amazon is not only an investor in Rivian, but also a customer. In September 2019, Rivian entered into an agreement with Amazon to produce 100,000 electric delivery trucks.
Other top shareholders are Oryx Global with an 8.6% stake and Vanguard with 5.1%. Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe owns about 1.1% of the company.
Volkswagen’s deal with Rivian came at a critical time for the EV maker as it poured millions of dollars into R&D and pushed to bring the R2 from the design studio to the assembly line. Rivian began production of the R2 in April and is expected to begin delivering the mid-size SUV to customers in the coming weeks.
If successful, the VW-Rivian joint venture could lead to future technology licensing deals with other companies or new categories. For example, the joint venture with VW excludes artificial intelligence and autonomy, two areas in which Rivian has focused significant funds in recent years. Rivian plowed $1.7 billion into R&D in 2025, up from $1.6 billion in 2024, the company said annual filing reports. Much of that has gone toward its autonomy efforts—so much so that it has pushed the company to advance its profitability goal beyond 2027.
In a filing detailing Rivian’s new partnership with Uber, Rivian revealed that it is not expected to be EBITDA positive next year due to its R&D spending.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
