Lyft to cut 982 jobs, reduce pay amid crisis

Lyft plans to cut 17% of its workforce in one of the largest layoff rounds for a tech company during the coronavirus pandemic.

The San Francisco ridehailing company said in an SEC filing Wednesday that it will shed 982 jobs to cut costs as demand for rides has plummeted. The company will also furlough 288 employees and reduce pay for many remaining employees, among other measures.

“It is now clear that the COVID19 crisis is going to have broadreaching implications for the economy, which impacts our business,” Lyft CEO Logan Green said in a statement. “We have therefore made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team. Our guiding principle for decisionmaking right now is to ensure we emerge from the crisis in the strongest possible position to achieve the company’s mission.”

Green and cofounder John Zimmer had previously said they will donate their salaries through the end of June to driver relief efforts.

Lyft’s new pay cuts apply to base salaries for exempt employees for 12 weeks starting in May. Pay for executives will be cut 30%; that for vice presidents will be cut 20% and pay for all other exempt employees will be cut 10%. Members of

the board of directors agreed to forgo 30% of their cash compensation for the second quarter.

Lyft said it expects $28 million to $36 million in restructuring costs, such as severance and benefits, incurred mostly in the second quarter. The company is headquartered in San Francisco’s China Basin office complex.

The move comes a day after bigger rival Uber was said to be considering layoffs of 20% of its workforce, about 5,400 staffers.

Neither Lyft nor Uber has ever made money. Both companies went public a year ago and have disappointed investors.

Since the shelterinplace orders, use of ridehailing has declined precipitously.

Separately, vaping company Juul is considering laying off up to 950 workers, or about a third of its staff, the Wall Street

Journal reported.

The San Francisco company is restructuring as it faces federal investigations and has been blamed for the rise in teen vaping.

The company laid off 650 workers in late 2019. Chronicle staff writer Roland Li contributed to this report.