Lyft lays off 90 employees after evaluating resources
The ride-hailing company is tightening its belt.
Even though Lyft is laying off staff, the company says it's still growing rapidly.
Lyft hasn't experienced a smooth ride on Wall Street since it went public last March. In an attempt to rein in costs, the ride-hailing company announced Wednesday that it's laying off 90 employees from its marketing and enterprise sales departments. The news was first reported by The New York Times.
"We've carefully evaluated the resources we need to achieve our 2020 business goals, and the restructuring of some of our teams reflects that," a Lyft spokeswoman said in an email. "We are still growing rapidly and plan to hire more than 1,000 new employees this year." Lyft currently has 5,500 employees.
The company listed on Wall Street on March 29 to a warm reception, with shares rising nearly 9%. Investors, however, quickly cooled on its prospects. By Day 2, shares had fallen below their initial price and have since remained stagnant.
In the months following Lyft's initial public offering, two sets of shareholders sued the company for misrepresenting the strength of its business, and its chief operating officer stepped down. Lyft's shares are currently down more than 30% from its listing price.
Uber, Lyft's chief rival in the ride-hailing industry, has experienced a similarly hard time since its listing in May. The company's share price has slumped, it's seen an exodus of executives, and three board members have stepped down including its former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick. Like Lyft, Uber has also laid off employees. In three rounds of cuts, Uber has let go of about 5% of its staff.
Despite Lyft's setbacks as a public company, its founders remain optimistic about the future. CEO Logan Green has repeatedly said Lyft "has never been stronger" and that he expects the company to reach profitability at the end of 2021, a year earlier than analysts had forecast.