Rivian Facing Lawsuit Over Gender Discrimination Culture Ahead of IPO

"Investor Commitment Ability in Question"
IPO Price Raised by 20%... $10 Billion Fundraising

(Photo by Bloomberg)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Rivian, gaining attention as the 'second Tesla,' has been embroiled in lawsuits over gender discrimination and unfair dismissal ahead of its U.S. stock market listing.

Laura Schwab, former Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Rivian, filed a lawsuit against the company on the 5th (local time), claiming she was unfairly dismissed after raising issues of gender discrimination, according to CNBC and others.

Schwab has spent over 20 years in the automotive industry, having served as President of Aston Martin Americas and worked at Jaguar Land Rover, and joined Rivian in November last year.

Despite her career and position as vice president, she said she was excluded from important meetings that influenced the team, criticizing, "Rivian's organizational culture was the worst I have experienced in over 20 years in the automotive industry."

She claimed, "Rivian publicly boasts about its corporate culture, but in reality, women are excluded from key decision-making," and added, "I raised concerns about this gender-discriminatory culture to the company, but was fired two days later."

In the lawsuit, Schwab stated that she questioned the top management's ability to fulfill promises made to investors, but these concerns were ignored.

She pointed out that Rivian's vehicle prices were set too low, there were issues with manufacturing quality, and unrealistic delivery targets were being set.

Regarding the lawsuit and Schwab's claims, a Rivian spokesperson declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Rivian plans to be listed on the U.S. Nasdaq market next week under the ticker symbol 'RIVN.' According to the securities registration statement Rivian submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 5th, Rivian plans to issue a total of 135 million common shares at an offering price of $72 to $74 per share. This is about a 20% increase from the initial expected offering price earlier last month.

Based on the top price of $74, the total offering amount is $9.99 billion, making it the third-largest U.S. stock market listing since 2011, following Alibaba ($25 billion) and Facebook, which changed its name to Meta ($16 billion).

If this IPO succeeds, the post-listing market capitalization will be around $65 billion (approximately 77.12 trillion KRW), surpassing Japan's leading automaker Honda ($51.2 billion) and approaching the level of U.S. Ford ($75.7 billion).

Previously, Amazon invested $700 million in Rivian in 2019 and currently holds about 20% of Rivian's shares. Subsequently, Ford and asset management firm BlackRock also joined the investment ranks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.