Rivian's shareholder chart has a new name at the very top, and it's not the e-commerce giant that has backed the company for years. Volkswagen Group has officially become the California EV maker's largest shareholder, according to SEC filings submitted by Rivian earlier this week, as first reported by TechCrunch.

The German automaker now holds 209.7 million shares of Rivian, equal to a 15.9% stake, after pouring roughly $3 billion into the company so far. That figure is set to climb further, with another $2.8 billion still to be delivered under the terms of the partnership between the two automakers, bringing Volkswagen's total planned commitment to about $5.8 billion.

Just two years ago, Volkswagen's position in Rivian sat at 8.6%. Its steady climb has now pushed Amazon out of the top spot, a position the online retail giant had held for more than five years. Amazon currently owns a 12.28% stake in Rivian. The company is more than just an investor, though — it's also one of Rivian's biggest customers, having ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans back in 2019. Amazon once disclosed holding as much as 20% of Rivian in 2021, but that stake has steadily shrunk in the years since.

Volkswagen's investment isn't arriving all at once. Instead, it's being released in installments tied to specific milestones the two companies agreed to hit together. The relationship began with an initial $1 billion investment, followed by another $1 billion a year later. A further $1 billion was unlocked last month after the Volkswagen ID. Every1, an upcoming small city EV, successfully completed winter testing.

That vehicle carries extra significance for the partnership: it will be the first production car built using the electrical architecture and software developed through the joint venture Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies established in November 2024. The venture is centered on creating shared underlying tech that both companies can use across future EVs, a sign of how deeply intertwined the two automakers have become despite operating on opposite ends of the industry — one a decades-old European giant, the other a Silicon Valley-adjacent startup still scaling up production.

For Rivian, the growing partnership comes at a critical moment. The company is racing to launch its more affordable R2 SUV while continuing to build out the R1S and R1T lineup. Volkswagen's expanding financial backing gives Rivian additional runway as it works toward that next phase of growth, even as its collaboration with Amazon continues on a separate track.

Source: InsideEVs

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