Ride-hailing firm Lyft laying off 13% of workforce

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US ride-hailing company Lyft announced on Thursday plans to lay off 13% of its workforce, affecting thousands of employees, due to a slowdown in the American economy and possible recession next year.

"Despite efforts to avoid this day, we’ve made the difficult decision to lay off 13% of the team," CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer said in a letter posted on the company's website.

"There are several challenges playing out across the economy. We're facing a probable recession sometime in the next year and rideshare insurance costs are going up," they added.

The executives said they tried to bring down costs during the summer by slowing and then freezing hiring, as well as through spending cuts and by pausing less-critical initiatives.

They added that Lyft had to "become leaner, which requires us to part with incredible team members."

Lyft has more than 5,000 employees, including around 650 who will be affected by the move.

The layoffs will impact every part of the firm and will be based on deprioritized initiatives amid efforts to reduce management layers, achieve broader savings goals, and, in some cases, take into account performance trajectories, according to the letter.

For departing employees, Lyft said it would offer 10 weeks of pay, healthcare coverage through April 30 next year, and recruiting assistance, while workers with over four years with the company were promised an additional four weeks of wages.