Lyft is reportedly laying off at least 1,200 employees — about 30% of its workforce — as the ride-share company seeks to reduce its size to better meet “the needs of riders and drivers.”
The move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes just days into the tenure of new CEO David Risher.
“I’m confirming that we will significantly reduce the size of the team as part of a restructuring to focus on better meeting the needs of riders and drivers,” Risher said Friday in an email to the company’s more than 4,000 employees.
Drivers are not included in that number.
Risher didn’t specify how many employees would be affected, but the WSJ reported the company “plans to cut 1,200 or more jobs,” citing people familiar with its plans.
The former Amazon executive was announced as the company’s new CEO last month, following news that co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer would step back from heading the ride-hailing giant as its CEO and president, respectively. Risher joined the Lyft board in 2021.
“We need to be a faster, flatter company where everyone is closer to our riders and drivers so we can deliver on this purpose,” Risher said in his memo to employees. “We need to bring our costs down to deliver affordable rides, compelling earnings for drivers, and profitable growth.”
“We intend to use these savings to invest in competitive pricing, faster pick-up times, and better driver earnings.,” he added. “All of these require us to reduce our size and restructure how we’re organized.”
The company, founded in the summer of 2012, has struggled to keep up with its main competitor, Uber Technologies, in recent months. Over the past year, Lyft’s stock slid nearly 70% according to the Journal, while Uber shares fell around 5% over the same period.
Affected employees will receive at least 10 weeks of pay, with additional weeks for those employed for four years or more. They will also keep their healthcare coverage through the end of October.
The latest round of layoffs comes about five months after Lyft announced it would cut 13% of its workforce due to the “realities of inflation and a slowing economy,” Green and Zimmer said in early November.
The changes will help Lyft become “the customer-focused, large-scale, profitable business we should be,” Risher said.
Shares of the company spiked early Friday after the Journal announced the layoffs. The company is scheduled to report its first-quarter financial results on May 4.
Several tech companies have announced layoffs in recent months, including Amazon, Meta and Microsoft.
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