EVwire brief: Volkswagen Group has overtaken Amazon as Rivian's largest shareholder.
A Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC shows VW now holds 209,769,645 Class A shares of Rivian, good for a 15.9% stake, up from 8.6% less than two years ago. Amazon, Rivian's longtime backer and delivery-van customer, now sits in second place at 12.28%.
VW's rising stake tracks the $5.8 billion joint venture it's funding with Rivian in milestone-based tranches, and that stake is contractually set to keep climbing as future tranches land.
Rivian is currently in a sensitive spot as it attempts to produce and ramp its first mass market vehicle, the R2
Rivian's disclosed top shareholders, ranked by stake:
Volkswagen Group — 15.9%
Amazon — 12.28%
Oryx Global — 8.6%
RJ Scaringe, Rivian's founder and CEO — roughly 1.1%
Oryx Global is the investment vehicle of Abdul Latif Jameel, a Jeddah-based Saudi conglomerate best known as Toyota's longtime exclusive distributor in Saudi Arabia. The family group held its Rivian stake well before the 2021 IPO, and that position's value jumped by an estimated $11.5 billion once shares started trading. Abdul Latif Jameel has said publicly it has no plans to reduce the stake.
The rest of Rivian's roughly 1.32 billion outstanding shares are held across public float, index funds, and smaller institutional positions, none individually disclosed above the 5% reporting threshold at last check.
Here’s a quick graphic of Rivian’s shares and who owns them, as of writing.
Rivian's top disclosed shareholders, ranked by stake.
Context:
VW's growing stake is tied directly to the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture, which was officially formed in November 2024 and focused on electrical architecture and software development.
Under the deal, VW committed to invest $5.8 billion into Rivian in total, unlocked in tranches as Rivian hits agreed milestones. VW kicked things off with an initial $1 billion, added another $1 billion in mid-2025, and delivered a third $1 billion around March 2026.
Rivian CEO, RJ Scaringe, and Amazon VP of Transportation, Udit Madan, at the Amazon EDV launch event.
Amazon's position looks different in character. Amazon was Rivian's earliest major backer, leading a $700 million round in 2019, and it disclosed a 20% stake ahead of Rivian's 2021 IPO. Amazon is also Rivian's biggest single customer: the two struck a deal in September 2019 for 100,000 electric delivery vans, a fleet that's been rolling out across Amazon's logistics network for years now.
VW's rise to the top shareholder slot doesn't touch that customer relationship, but it does mean Amazon is no longer the loudest voice in the room on the cap table, a shift worth watching if VW's board influence grows alongside its stake.
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