Lyft to freeze hiring through end of the year

By Levi Sumagaysay

Ride-hailing giant Lyft Inc. is freezing hiring through the end of 2022, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Lyft /zigman2/quotes/208999293/composite LYFT -4.56% executives said during the company’s most recent earnings call that they have been trimming costs by cutting budgets and “dramatically slowing hiring.”

Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said that “like many other companies navigating an uncertain economy, we are pausing hiring for all U.S.-based roles through the end of the year.”

Other recent cost-cutting measures by Lyft include offering its office space for subleasing, as well as ending direct car rentals and laying off 60 workers who staffed that business.

Shares of San Francisco-based Lyft have fallen almost 67% year to date. Monday, the company’s stock continued its losing streak after a UBS downgrade based on data that riders prefer Uber Technologies Inc. /zigman2/quotes/211348248/composite UBER -2.19% to Lyft, but the stock rebounded to close almost 5% higher Tuesday.

Earlier this year, Uber’s chief executive reportedly said the company would also cut costs and slow hiring.

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Add to watchlist LYFT

Lyft Inc. Cl A

US : U.S.: Nasdaq

$ 10.68

-0.51 -4.56%

Volume: 9.78M

Sept. 20, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$4.32 billion

Rev. per Employee

$961,816

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Add to watchlist UBER

Uber Technologies Inc.

US : U.S.: NYSE

$ 46.55

-1.04 -2.19%

Volume: 22.58M

Sept. 20, 2023 4:00p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

$97.25 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.07M