Amazon Accounted For Over 50% Of Rivian's Q1 2026 Revenue: Jim Chanos Says 'Yikes'

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) made up over 50% of Rivian Automotive Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:RIVN) revenue in the first quarter of 2026, according to earnings data shared on Thursday.

Very Proud Of Our Relationship, Says RJ Scaringe

During the earnings call, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe was asked to comment on interest from non-Amazon customers for Rivian’s commercial vehicles. “Our relationship with Amazon continues to be something that we are very proud of,” Scaringe said, sharing that vans would continue to ramp up with the e-commerce company.

“In terms of other customers and applications, Amazon is by a significant degree the largest operator,” Scaringe said, but also mentioned that the company had identified “lots of other opportunities” for its vehicles. However, Rivian’s focus right now remains on Amazon and “ramping to support them,” the CEO said.

Jim Chanos Weighs In

Following the earnings, short-seller James Chanos took to the social media platform X to share his views on Rivian’s first-quarter 2026 report, sharing that Amazon’s orders comprised $468 million of Rivian’s total $908 million automotive revenue. “So they are only selling 5-6,000 vehicles per quarter in the open market? Yikes,” Chanos said.

Rivian Earnings

Rivian posted positive earnings for the quarter, reporting a revenue of $1.381 billion, which beat the market consensus of $1.363 billion and illustrated an 11% year-on-year jump for the automaker. Rivian’s software and services revenue also jumped 49% YoY to $473 million.

The company reported an EPS loss of 33 cents per share, beating a Street consensus estimate of a loss of 71 cents per share. It produced 10,236 vehicles and plans to scale up its Georgia plant capacity by 50%, allowing it to produce 300,000 units per year.

Rivian’s R2 Play

The R2 could prove to be a crucial product for the automaker as it targets increasing volumes in the U.S. EV sector, currently dominated by Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). While the EV industry as a whole has seen a decline in demand, the Model Y continues to lead sales charts.

On the other hand, Rivian is vying to take a slice out of Tesla’s Pie with the R2, targeting a 20,000-25,000 annual sales figure for the crossover SYV.

The company’s U.S. sales declined consecutively for 4 months in the U.S. as Rivian sold 8,141 vehicles in the first quarter of 2026, compared to the 11,070 units it delivered last year. The figure illustrates a near 27% YoY decline for Rivian. Do note that R2's Standard Trim, due to arrive next year, will retail for a price of $48,490.

According to Benzinga Edge Rankings, Rivian offers Satisfactory Momentum and provides a favorable price trend in the Short and Long term.

Price Action: RIVN gained 2.12% to $16.40 at market close on Thursday, but declined 5.01% to $15.58 during the after-hours trading session.

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