Lyft Co-Founders Step Down

Lyft’s co-founders–CEO Logan Green and president John Zimmer–will step down from their full-time executive management positions and will become the chair and vice chair of the company’s board of directors, respectively.

“Building Lyft with John over the last 16 years has been the adventure of a lifetime,” Mr. Green said. “Billions of rides later, our industry is defined by the model of ride-sharing that Lyft pioneered.”

“Logan and I were told we were crazy to think people would share a ride in another person’s car,” Mr. Zimmer added. “Over a decade later, Lyft is creating economic opportunity, building a sustainable future, and helping people make meaningful connections — with the support of millions of riders and drivers.”

Despite the hopeful words, Lyft has struggled to come out of the pandemic on solid footing and needed a management change. Its chief rival, Uber, has meanwhile soared, driving its market share to 74 percent in the U.S. compared to just 26 percent for Lyft. Uber also weathered the pandemic by expanding into food delivery, and by pushing its business globally. Lyft only operates in North America.

Lyft was also forced to lay off over 700 employees–or about 13 percent overall–in late 2022 after a hiring freeze, spending cuts, and a curbing of less-essential initiatives didn’t help enough financially. As a result of these issues, Lyft’s stock price has fallen 70 percent over the past year. (Uber’s is down about 10 percent.)

Long-time board member and former Amazon and Microsoft executive David Risher is taking over the CEO position at Lyft.

“I think being a strong number two is a good place to be,” Mr, Risher told The Wall Street Journal. “I like where we are, but we’ve got real work to do to fight it out a little bit.”