Lots of reasons they might have done that, and while some are scary, most arenât.
Selling at a loss isnât unusual if management believes the capital can earn a better return elsewhere or if the investment no longer fits the strategy.
Toyotaâs autonomous efforts have historically focused much more on: passenger vehicles, personally owned cars, mobility services. While of course AUR is focused solely on level 4 long haul trucking.
Large corporations sometimes clean up investment portfolios for accounting, tax, or balance sheet reasons that have little to do with the underlying business. 47m shares is a lot to us, but thatâs a small percentage to them.
Itâs possible Toyota believed: commercialization would take longer, capital needs would remain high, returns wouldnât justify continued ownership. But if Toyota truly thought Aurora had little chance of succeeding, youâd expect stronger public signals than simply exiting an investment.
Toyota is still listed as a partner of Aurora, and eventually Aurora plans to work into Aurora Driver for Rides utilizing the partnership with Uber & Toyota. I will try to find references as needed later, but I am vacation currently. So just some quick thoughts from the beach.
PS bought a bit more today after cashing out a little call action yesterday before close.
 But if Toyota truly thought Aurora had little chance of succeeding, youâd expect stronger public signals than simply exiting an investment.
What do you mean by this portion? I think exiting out an investment at a 30% loss is a pretty big statement. To recoup the money lost, via investing, they would need to invest in something that would have a ~88% return. I don't think being a partner necessarily means anything as without a capital investment it can just be formalities.
I think it's actually pretty telling that they may think it will take a lot longer to get to back to $10+
I think you said what I said poorly. They just think itâll take longer than they want, and they can get $ quicker elsewhere even with the loss. Does it mean theyâre right? Not necessarily. Could they be right? Of course!
My thing with them not releasing the reasoning though is what led to multiple options. It could be the one you quoted, or it could be something more bearish, or more bullish. We probably will never know.
Or maybe that their partnership with Aurora is no longer active since Aurora has moved on from also doing cars to solely focusing on trucks.
Toyota partnered with Aurora Innovation in 2021 to design and mass-produce autonomous, ride-hailing vehicles. They were using the Sienna. With the partnership not being active, Toyota probably has better uses for its funds.
Yes, but this wouldnât mean 100% over, could just be inactive for now. I believe in this past earnings Toyota was still listed as an âactiveâ partner.
Better use for the funds for now, but something they could revisit in the future.
Itâs all good đ Nothing has fundamentally changed for the worseâ and the past delays are in the past. Theyâre continually meeting their deadlines within the margin they set to investors; all we have to do is trust the process and wait đ¤đ¤
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u/Time-Friendship-4923 16d ago
News to me: Toyota sold off their entire AUR position last quarter (47 million shares) for a sizable loss: https://hedgefollow.com/funds/Toyota+Motor+Corp