Shares in Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) jumped yesterday after the air taxi company announced a potential deal with the Saudi Arabia-based Abdul Latif Jameel. The deal could lead to Joby supplying up to 200 of its eVTOL aircraft. Here’s what to know about the potential and its effect on Joby’s stock price.

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Joby Aviation, better known as Joby, is a Santa Cruz, California-headquartered aviation company that is developing a fleet of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles—in other words, flying taxis.

Joby was founded in 2009 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Prior to its NYSE debut, Joby was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2021.

While the company is developing flying taxi vehicles, one of its primary aims is to become a service—an Uber of the skies, so to speak.

Because of its relatively small market cap of around $6.7 billion and interesting futuristic product (a flying rideshare service), Joby’s stock is somewhat popular with investors who lean more toward dabbling in meme stocks and small-cap stocks that have potential to see sky-high returns if their products eventually take off (no pun intended).

Joby says it currently has “strategic partnerships” with Toyota, Delta, and Uber, and it employs more than 1,700 engineers. For its Q1 2025, which ended March 31, Joby reported a net loss of $82.4 million.

Yesterday, Joby Aviation announced a potential deal with Abdul Latif Jameel, a business based in Saudi Arabia.

Potential is the key word here.

That’s because the two companies didn’t actually agree to sell anything to or buy anything from one another. Instead, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This MoU will see the companies “explore opportunities to establish a distribution agreement in Saudi Arabia for Joby’s electric aircraft,” according to Joby.

That potential distribution agreement may see Joby deliver up to 200 air taxis and other related services valued at up to $1 billion to Abdul Latif Jameel “over the coming years.”

Joby has positioned the potential deal as a win-win for both American and Saudi Arabian business interests.

“This collaboration is about bringing America’s leadership in electric air mobility to the world,” Joby Aviation CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in a statement announcing the deal.