Tech

Lyft to cut 1,072 employees, or 26% of its workforce

Key Points
  • Ride-hailing app Lyft confirmed it would lay off 1,072 employees, roughly 26% of its corporate workforce, and not hire for an additional 250 positions.
  • The layoffs had been announced last week without a specific number.
  • New CEO David Risher told employees that the cuts would form part of a continued focus on "better meeting" consumer and driver needs.

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Ramin Talaie | Corbis News | Getty Images

Ride-hailing app Lyft will lay off 1,072 employees, roughly 26% of its corporate workforce, and won't hire for an additional 250 positions, the company said in an SEC filing Thursday.

The news comes a week after a memo from new Lyft CEO David Risher confirmed that the company would trim its head count.

Lyft shares closed up around 1.5% Thursday. The company has around 4,000 employees and had already implemented a 13% head count reduction in November 2022.

Risher's tenure as CEO started earlier in April. He has emphasized a need to streamline operations and get back to "better meeting the needs of riders and drivers" in employee communications and public messaging.

Lyft co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer remain on the company's board, having led the company through its 2019 public offering and subsequent expansion.

The company's stock has never risen above its debut price and remains down around 8% year to date.

A focus on efficiency has been a familiar refrain from tech executives. The broader economic slowdown has hit tech companies particularly hard: More than 184,000 tech employees have lost their jobs in 2023 alone, according to data from Layoffs.fyi.

A Lyft spokesperson referred CNBC back to the prior SEC filing and blog post.