Lyft Co-founders To Step Down; Names David Risher CEO

(RTTNews) - Ride-hailing company Lyft, Inc. announced a management shakeup with co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer deciding to step down from their day-to-day roles as chief executive officer and president, respectively.

The company has named David Risher, who previously worked with Amazon and Microsoft, as its new chief executive officer with effect from April 17. Green and Zimmer will move to non-executive roles as chair and vice chair of the Lyft board, effective April 17, and June 30, respectively.

Lyft shares, which lost around 3 percent in the regular trading on Monday, gained around 4.4 percent in the extended trading following the news.

In a statement, the company noted that Sean Aggarwal, current Lyft board chair, will transition to the role of lead independent director.

Further, Lyft maintained its earlier announced outlook for first-quarter revenue, contribution margin and adjusted EBITDA. The company expects to report its first-quarter results in early May.

Lyft, one of the largest transportation networks in the United States and Canada, was founded in 2012 by Green and Zimmer who took the company public in 2019.

Green said, "Building Lyft with John over the last 16 years has been the adventure of a lifetime... All founders eventually find the right moment to step back and the right leaders to take their company forward. In a field of accomplished candidates, David stood head and shoulders above the rest. As a member of the board, he knows both the challenges and opportunities ahead."

Risher, who joined the Lyft board of directors in July 2021, was the 37th employee of Amazon. He hadnpreviously served as the e-commerce giant's first head of product and head of U.S. Retail, and a general manager at Microsoft.

Lyft noted that Risher helped lead Amazon from an online bookstore with $15 million in annual sales to the "everything store" with over $4 billion in sales. When he left Amazon, Jeff Bezos added a permanent thank-you to the Amazon website in tribute to Risher's contributions.

The news of management reshuffle comes as the company has been struggling to make a profit for some time, and its stock lost much of its value over the years. In February, the company recorded a net loss of $588.1 million in its fourth quarter and a net loss of $1.6 billion in fiscal 2022, both wider than the respective periods last year.

Last year, the company reportedly had decided to cut 13 percent of its workforce or 700 employees to reduce expenses.