by wonderwonder on 4/29/20, 6:23 PM
Layoffs are mounting, alternative work is limited, and the unemployment systems in many states are either broken or running out of funding. Add the federal governments indicated desire to let blue states go bankrupt and we are looking at a good combination to enter a depression.
Its a pretty sobering time.
by stephencoyner on 4/29/20, 4:48 PM
This seems like a great time for Amazon or Google to buy Lyft.
Amazon could bundle rides with package deliveries and get the pre-existing driver and passenger network from Lyft. Lyft was actually telling drivers to work with Amazon when the pandemic started (1).
Waymo could take Lyft’s aggregated rider demand. They already have a partnership to transfer autonomous rides from Waymo to Lyft during bad weather situations and refer Lyft riders to Waymo vehicles (2).
Edit - links below.
(1) Amazon - https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/27/21197699/lyft-amazon-coro...
(2) Waymo - https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/05/08/waymo-lyft-partner...
by subsubzero on 4/29/20, 6:14 PM
- The tech companies having issues during covid-19 are all heavily invested in travel/transportation(Uber/Lyft/Airbnb etc).
- They also are in industries that entirely use gig workers with personal contact in 90% of their services(airbnb the least of these).
- I don't see other tech companies getting hit this hard(the sky is not falling!).
- I really, really hope these laid off engineers find other jobs quickly and land on their feet.
by sna1l on 4/29/20, 4:11 PM
Also: "Lyft's other cost-cutting measures include furloughing 288 employees and base pay reductions of 30% for executive leadership, 20% for VPs, and 10% for all other exempt employees. Board directors will give up 30% of their cash compensation during Q2."
by saagarjha on 4/29/20, 4:48 PM
There was a person in the Uber thread yesterday who predicted this. I wonder if they’ll go back to hiring if this is over or they’re using as an opportunity to get rid of people they shouldn’t have hired in the first place.
by minimaxir on 4/29/20, 4:20 PM
> Lyft is laying off 17 percent of its workforce and furloughing 5 percent. This is after an employment lawyer at the company accidentally invited much of the workforce to a weekend meeting called "Jetty" in what workers took to be a reference to jettisoning jobs.
https://twitter.com/kateconger/status/1255526352813535232
by ivankirigin on 4/29/20, 7:01 PM
by adaisadais on 4/29/20, 7:03 PM
In the long term I think this will be a solid move for both Uber & Lyft. The apparent economics of both businesses are relatively dire but the long term value prop is still as important as ever: they are generating the consumer data that will ultimately be used for self driving vehicles.
This will allow both companies to trim the fat and (hopefully) regain the move fast mentality that is necessary for a startup. This can be Uber and Lyfts time to shine.
by fyp on 4/29/20, 5:00 PM
Uber/airbnb/lyft were considered in the same tier as facebook/google before corona. With google also slowing hiring, are the engineers laid off all going to be absorbed by facebook?
by adelHBN on 4/30/20, 3:21 AM
Ok, I seriously don't get this. How is the stock market doing so well? This article about Lyft is just but one glimpse of what's happening to the economy. And it ain't going to get better any time soon. I've been waiting to invest in the stock market, but am totally whiplashed by the rise of stock market. It's completely disconnected from the real economy.
by johntiger1 on 4/29/20, 4:58 PM
Crap, I was scheduled to go on internship with them this summer, but I feel like that might quickly no longer be an option..
by bfrog on 4/29/20, 7:14 PM
If they are really letting go of their hard found engineering talent its a serious signal that they don't believe this to be a short term issue. Assuming the highly paid engineers around the bay took a good deal of effort, and significant cost to hire.
by JMTQp8lwXL on 4/29/20, 4:43 PM
Lyft is up 5% today, but the market (S&P 500) is generally up 2.94%.
by Digit-Al on 4/29/20, 5:59 PM
Does anyone else find the headline really weird? Having "17%" next to "hundreds more" makes the "hundreds more" look like the important figure, whereas in actuality the "17%" is really the important figure.
by bdcravens on 4/29/20, 4:34 PM
As a company, is there reason to believe that Uber can better weather the storm? Does Lyft do anything other than rides?
by KeepTalking on 4/29/20, 6:20 PM
While the short to medium-term impact of this is terrible, I am optimistic that a few of these individuals (not the usual high profile stars) will kick start the next big idea.
Do we have a list of affected individuals listed to work on interesting projects?
Wish HN can curate a Database of individuals open to working on special projects that could lead to a YC submission
by samfisher83 on 4/29/20, 10:19 PM
$36mil/1000 employees works out about 36k in severance. What happens to people who got stock grants that vest over 4 years?
by SamuelAdams on 4/29/20, 5:13 PM
by ar_lan on 4/29/20, 5:03 PM
I recall Lyft being the highest paying company with respect to rank, according to levels.fyi.
I guess I'm glad I don't work there right now.
by reminddit on 4/29/20, 5:17 PM
is there existing analysis of effect of layoff on future stock price?
by startupinmotion on 4/29/20, 9:04 PM
welp
by graphememes on 4/29/20, 6:52 PM
Should have done lyft eats