Lyft Inc. is slowing down hiring, slashing budgets and taking other actions, as its shares lost another 17% on Tuesday, reaching a 52-week closing low and close to its all-time low.
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President John Zimmer briefed employees on Tuesday afternoon’s moves, company spokeswoman Jodi Seth confirmed. They include giving “eligible employees a special grant in shares,” but no layoffs, he said.
“We’re focused on accelerating profitable growth and prioritizing work across the entire company that contributes the most to that,” Seth said. “We are also responsible for the costs and we will significantly delay hiring.”
Shares of the public transport company have been on a roller coaster since it reported first-quarter results in early May. Lyft shares plunged nearly 30% the day after executives issued a lower-than-expected forecast for the second quarter and said they intended to continue investing in driver incentives and marketing as they prepared for meet more demand.
Since then, the company’s stock has fallen eight of its 15 trading days, closing at $ 16.72 on Tuesday, far from its all-time low of $ 16.05 on March 18, 2020. Lyft shares they are on pace for their worst recorded month and have slowed. about 61% so far this year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Lyft’s cost-cutting moves follow those announced by bigger rival Uber Technologies Inc. UBER,
Earlier this month, when Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi emailed its employees and cited a “seismic change” in the stock market as the reason why the company had to react. Uber shares fell more than 9% on Tuesday, closing at $ 21.55, down nearly 49% so far.