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Tag: Lyft

  • Report: Uber, Lyft Drivers Face Suspensions, Discrimination | Entrepreneur

    Report: Uber, Lyft Drivers Face Suspensions, Discrimination | Entrepreneur

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    Deactivation is an extremely common experience for Uber and Lyft drivers, according to a new report.

    When drivers are “deactivated,” as the parlance goes, they are suspended, often just for a period of time, from using the app to pick up rides. On its site, Uber says the most common reason drivers are unable to access their accounts is because of background check issues. It also claims the review process is “human-led.”

    A survey released last week from the Asian Law Caucus (ALC), a civil rights advocacy organization, and the Rideshare Drivers United (RDU) found that 67% of the California-based drivers surveyed have been deactivated from the app before in some fashion. It also found drivers of color were more likely to report that experience.

    “For many app-based drivers, driving on platforms like Uber and Lyft is their primary source of income,” a press release on the study said. “Their ability to earn a living is precariously dependent on secret algorithms and unchecked customer complaints and ratings.”

    Per the results, 69% of drivers of color polled said they had been deactivated one way or another, while 57% of white drivers said they had experienced the event. Drivers of color made up the overwhelming majority of the surveyed group.

    Two in three of the drivers surveyed reported experiencing bias or discrimination, the report added.

    Two drivers Entrepreneur spoke to agreed with parts of the report’s findings.

    A part-time Uber driver nicknamed “Bawa” in Edmonton in the province of Alberta, Canada, who asked if his real name could be withheld for his privacy (but whose driver profile Entrepreneur has viewed), said he’s never experienced discrimination himself but knows plenty of drivers who have.

    “Most of the Uber drivers are from the immigrant community, and they are mostly first-generation immigrants,” he said.

    Bawa said he immigrated to Canada in 2008 and remembered he was deactivated once a few years after driving someone in very cold weather and struggling with the ice. He was able to get back on after five days, and the company gave him $150 for lost wages.

    Levi Spires, 48, an Uber driver in Syracuse, New York told Entrepreneur that he’s never been deactivated himself, but it’s an ever-looming fear.

    “There are horror stories of 5-star drivers getting shut down because of one false complaint,” he said.

    Sites like Reddit have threads of drivers complaining about being deactivated or discussing being at risk of being deactivated, as Spires noted.

    Lyft said in a statement to NBC News that the report is “flawed to its core with a predetermined conclusion not grounded in facts.” The company does, however, “strongly condemn discrimination of any kind and are committed to preventing it on our platform.”

    The survey covered 810 current or former Uber and Lyft drivers who had worked for the apps in California in the past four years, according to the report. It was administered online from April to July 2022 and also interviewed 15 drivers individually in the fall of 2022. Organizations like the Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco helped distribute the surveys.

    It was offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.

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    Gabrielle Bienasz

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  • Lyft shares fall nearly 25% after forecasting revenue below estimates | CNN Business

    Lyft shares fall nearly 25% after forecasting revenue below estimates | CNN Business

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    Reuters
     — 

    Lyft

    (LYFT)     on Thursday forecast current-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates, blaming extremely cold weather in some of its major markets and lower prices, especially during peak hours, sending its shares down nearly 25% in extended trading.

    The company’s outlook was in contrast to that of its larger rival Uber

    (UBER)    , whose strong presence globally is helping it ride a boom in demand for ride-hailing services from travelers and office-goers

    Lyft’s bigger presence on the U.S. West Coast, a region that analysts have said was trailing the rest of the United States in return to pre-COVID demand, could be hurting its recovery compared with Uber.

    Company president John Zimmer said in an interview that the West Coast had “not fully” recovered but noted a “material improvement.”

    Lyft forecast first-quarter revenue of about $975 million, which fell below analyst estimates of $1.09 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

    Its forecast for first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a key measure of profitability that strips out some costs, was between $5 million and $15 million.

    For the fourth quarter, Lyft reported an adjusted EBITDA of $126.7 million, excluding $375 million it had set aside for increasing insurance reserves. Analysts had forecast $91.01 million.

    “We wanted to ensure we strengthened our insurance reserve … the purpose of doing that is to ensure we don’t have that type of volatility going forward, because we did such a large reserve on the high end of what we could expect given the size of our insurance book,” Zimmer said in an interview.

    Active riders rose 8.7% increase to 20.36 million for the fourth quarter, Lyft said. Analysts were expecting 20.30 million, according to FactSet estimates.

    Rideshare was “really back … we’re happy with the current marketplace conditions,” Zimmer said.

    Revenue rose 21% to $1.18 billion, slightly above the average estimate of $1.16 billion.

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  • Here are the latest tech layoffs as the industry shudders

    Here are the latest tech layoffs as the industry shudders

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    The high-flying tech industry is facing a reckoning as the economy slows and customers pull back on spending.

    In the past month alone, tech companies have cut nearly 60,000 jobs, reversing a hiring spree that surged during the pandemic as millions of Americans moved their lives online. IBM was one of the latest to slash its headcount, announcing 3,900 layoffs in January, or less than 2% of its global workforce. 

    Even with the surge in layoffs, most tech companies are still vastly larger than they were three years ago. But industry analysts expect further industry cuts in 2023 as the Federal Reserve continues to increase interest rates as it hits the brakes on economic growth. 

    This year, “a major theme will be tech layoffs as Silicon Valley, after a decade of hyper growth, now comes to the reality of cost-cutting mode,” analysts at Wedbush said in a research note Friday.

    As for what that means for tech workers, it’s too soon to tell, experts say. Despite the cascade of layoff announcements, employment in the information sector rose through most of last year, dropping only in December. That suggests demand for talent remains strong enough that many laid-off tech employees will likely be able to find new jobs.

    “While layoffs from high-profile firms make the headlines, plenty of firms are desperate for more workers, especially tech workers. Those workers are in high demand from the auto industry to the Department of Veterans Affairs to not-for-profits,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

    “The labor market is still so tight that many tech workers, and workers with other skills, are snapped up well before they need to collect an unemployment check. And they are more likely to be snapped up by smaller firms, which have a much greater demand for workers than major corporations.

    The tech downturn is an anomaly amid a job market that remains the tightest in decades and has allowed many workers to command higher pay. Across the economy, announced layoffs last year fell to their second-lowest in 30 years of tracking by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, second only to 2021.

    But even as overall layoffs fell, tech layoffs rose, with a record 1 in 4 layoffs last year taking place in the tech sector.

    Here are the largest tech companies to announce cuts since 2022.

    Alphabet   

    The Google parent said on January 20 that it would let go of 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its 186,000-strong global workforce. The cuts apply “across Alphabet — product areas, functions, levels and regions,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.

    Pichai told employees that the Silicon Valley company simply hired too fast during the pandemic. 

    “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote in an email that was also posted on Alphabet’s corporate blog. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”

    Amazon

    The e-commerce company is moving to cut about 18,000 positions, a downshift that began in November and that will continue into this year. That’s just a fraction of its 1.5 million-strong global workforce. 

    While the vast majority of the company’s employees work in its vast warehouse and logistics operation — which doubled in size during the pandemic — the cuts mostly affect white-collar employees in some of the company’s less profitable sectors, including the division responsible for its voice assistant, Alexa.

    Carvana

    The online car seller cut about 2,500 workers in May 2022, or 12% of its workforce. The company was widely criticized for its handling of the layoffs, many of which were done via Zoom and email. 

    The Phoenix-based company, which delivers new and used cars to buyers, blamed the cuts on an “automotive recession.”

    Coinbase

    The cryptocurrency trading platform cut roughly 20% of its workforce, or about 950 jobs, in January. It’s the second round of layoffs in less than a year, with 1,100 workers losing their jobs in June.

    Dell

    The computer company in February announced it would slash 5% of its workforce due to a “challenging global economic environment.” The Texas-based company has about 133,000 employees, according to its most recent annual report, putting the layoffs on track to eliminate about 6,600 jobs.

    eBay

    The online marketplace said in February it would cut 500 jobs, or about 4% of its global workforce, according to an internal email included with a securities filing.

    The layoffs allow the company “to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas,” CEO Jamie Iannone said in the message. The will also “[simplify] our structure to make decisions more effectively and with more speed,” he said.

    IBM

    The company plans to cut about 3,900 workers, its chief financial officer told Bloomberg in January. The cuts amount to about 1.5% of the company’s global workforce, and come even as IBM posted better-than-expected revenue for the most recent quarter.

    The Armonk, New York-based firm will continue hiring in what its financial officer called “higher-growth areas.” IBM last year said it would invest tens of billions of dollars across New York’s Hudson Valley to spur semiconductor manufacturing.

    Lyft

    The ride-hailing service said in November it was cutting 13% of its workforce, almost 700 employees. The layoffs affect its corporate employees, since Lyft’s army of drivers are considered independent businesses, not employees of the transportation company. 

    Meta

    The parent company of Facebook in November laid off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce. Meta has struggled more than many tech companies this year; its user base has shrunk, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg has put billions of dollars into building what he calls the “metaverse,” to the consternation of its investors. The company’s stock has lost two-thirds of its value since peaking in August 2021.

    Microsoft

    The software company in January said it would cut about 10,000 jobs, almost 5% of its workforce, as it refocuses its strategy on artificial intelligence and away from hardware. In the two years ending in June 2022, Microsoft had expanded from 163,000 workers to 221,000.

    PayPal

    The digital payments company said in January it was cutting 2,000 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce, as it contends with what it called “the challenging macro-economic environment.”

    The San Jose, California-based company is the parent of PayPal is the parent of payment apps Venmo and Xoom and the coupon service Honey, among other brands. PayPal said the cuts would affect different brands unequally, although it did not specify further.

    Robinhood

    The company, whose app helped attract a new generation of investors to the market, announced in August that it would reduce its headcount by 23%, or approximately 780 people. That’s the second round of recent layoffs for the company, which last year cut 9% of its workforce.

    Salesforce

    The company cut 10% of its workforce, or about 7,300 employees, in January. It also said it was closing some offices, citing a “challenging” environment and lower customer spending. 

    Snap

    The parent company of social media platform Snapchat said in August that it was letting go of 20% of its staff. Snap’s staff has grown to more than 5,600 employees in recent years, meaning that, even after laying off more than 1,000 people, Snap’s staff would be larger than it was a year earlier.

    Spotify

    The music streaming service said in January it was cutting 6% of its workforce, or roughly 580 jobs, as part of a push to make the company more efficient. In 2022, Spotify’s operating costs grew twice as fast as its revenue, CEO Daniel Ek said, a pace he called “unsustainable.”

    “We still spend far too much time syncing on slightly different strategies, which slows us down,” CEO Daniel Elk said in a January 23 letter to employees posted on the company’s site. “And in a challenging economic environment, efficiency takes on greater importance.”

    Stripe

    The payment processor announced layoffs of roughly 1,000 workers in November,  amounting to 14% of its workforce. In an email to employees posted on Stripe’s website, CEO Patrick Collison said the company expected “leaner times” amid worsening economic conditions.

    Twitter

    About half of the social media platform’s staff of 7,500 was let go after the billionaire CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, acquired the service in October. An unknown number have left, with some objecting to the new ownership and Musk’s demand for an “extremely hardcore” attitude.

    Wayfair

    The online shopping company announced in January that it would cut 1,750 workers, or about 10% of its global employees, as it adjusts to falling consumer demand after the home-renovation boom of the pandemic. It’s the second round of layoffs for the Boston-based company, which cut 870 employees in August.

    CEO Niraj Shah said the company “simply grew too big.”

    “In hindsight, similar to our technology peers, we scaled our spend too quickly over the last few years,” Shah said in a statement.

    Zoom

    The video-conferencing company that surged early in the pandemic said it would lay off 1,300 “talented, hardworking colleagues” in early February. The cuts represent about 15% of Zoom’s workforce, according to a company blog.

    The company tripled in size in 2020 as white-collar workers shifted to remote environments, but its user growth then slowed dramatically.

    “We didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyze our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably,” CEO Eric Yuan said in a post. “[T]he uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision,” he added.

    Yuan said he would forgo his entire salary and bonus for the current fiscal year, and that the executive team would see 20% salary cuts and no bonus. Yuan made $320,000 in compensation last year, and also holds about $3.3 million worth of Zoom stock, according to securities filings.

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  • Here are the latest tech layoffs as the industry shudders

    Here are the latest tech layoffs as the industry shudders

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    The high-flying tech industry is facing a reckoning as the economy slows and customers pull back on spending.

    In the past month alone, tech companies have cut nearly 60,000 jobs, reversing a hiring spree that surged during the pandemic as millions of Americans moved their lives online. IBM was one of the latest to slash its headcount, announcing 3,900 layoffs in January, or less than 2% of its global workforce. 

    Even with the surge in layoffs, most tech companies are still vastly larger than they were three years ago. But industry analysts expect further industry cuts in 2023 as the Federal Reserve continues to increase interest rates as it hits the brakes on economic growth. 

    This year, “a major theme will be tech layoffs as Silicon Valley, after a decade of hyper growth, now comes to the reality of cost-cutting mode,” analysts at Wedbush said in a research note Friday.

    As for what that means for tech workers, it’s too soon to tell, experts say. Despite the cascade of layoff announcements, employment in the information sector rose through most of last year, dropping only in December. That suggests demand for talent remains strong enough that many laid-off tech employees will likely be able to find new jobs.

    “While layoffs from high-profile firms make the headlines, plenty of firms are desperate for more workers, especially tech workers. Those workers are in high demand from the auto industry to the Department of Veterans Affairs to not-for-profits,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

    “The labor market is still so tight that many tech workers, and workers with other skills, are snapped up well before they need to collect an unemployment check. And they are more likely to be snapped up by smaller firms, which have a much greater demand for workers than major corporations.

    The tech downturn is an anomaly amid a job market that remains the tightest in decades and has allowed many workers to command higher pay. Across the economy, announced layoffs last year fell to their second-lowest in 30 years of tracking by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, second only to 2021.

    But even as overall layoffs fell, tech layoffs rose, with a record 1 in 4 layoffs last year taking place in the tech sector.

    Here are the largest tech companies to announce cuts since 2022.

    Alphabet   

    The Google parent said on January 20 that it would let go of 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its 186,000-strong global workforce. The cuts apply “across Alphabet — product areas, functions, levels and regions,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.

    Pichai told employees that the Silicon Valley company simply hired too fast during the pandemic. 

    “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote in an email that was also posted on Alphabet’s corporate blog. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”

    Amazon

    The e-commerce company is moving to cut about 18,000 positions, a downshift that began in November and that will continue into this year. That’s just a fraction of its 1.5 million-strong global workforce. 

    While the vast majority of the company’s employees work in its vast warehouse and logistics operation — which doubled in size during the pandemic — the cuts mostly affect white-collar employees in some of the company’s less profitable sectors, including the division responsible for its voice assistant, Alexa.

    Carvana

    The online car seller cut about 2,500 workers in May 2022, or 12% of its workforce. The company was widely criticized for its handling of the layoffs, many of which were done via Zoom and email. 

    The Phoenix-based company, which delivers new and used cars to buyers, blamed the cuts on an “automotive recession.”

    Coinbase

    The cryptocurrency trading platform cut roughly 20% of its workforce, or about 950 jobs, in January. It’s the second round of layoffs in less than a year, with 1,100 workers losing their jobs in June.

    IBM

    The company plans to cut about 3,900 workers, its chief financial officer told Bloomberg in January. The cuts amount to about 1.5% of the company’s global workforce, and come even as IBM posted better-than-expected revenue for the most recent quarter.

    The Armonk, New York-based firm will continue hiring in what its financial officer called “higher-growth areas.” IBM last year said it would invest tens of billions of dollars across New York’s Hudson Valley to spur semiconductor manufacturing.

    Lyft

    The ride-hailing service said in November it was cutting 13% of its workforce, almost 700 employees. The layoffs affect its corporate employees, since Lyft’s army of drivers are considered independent businesses, not employees of the transportation company. 

    Meta

    The parent company of Facebook in November laid off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce. Meta has struggled more than many tech companies this year; its user base has shrunk, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg has put billions of dollars into building what he calls the “metaverse,” to the consternation of its investors. The company’s stock has lost two-thirds of its value since peaking in August 2021.

    Microsoft

    The software company in January said it would cut about 10,000 jobs, almost 5% of its workforce, as it refocuses its strategy on artificial intelligence and away from hardware. In the two years ending in June 2022, Microsoft had expanded from 163,000 workers to 221,000.

    PayPal

    The digital payments company said in January it was cutting 2,000 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce, as it contends with what it called “the challenging macro-economic environment.”

    The San Jose, California-based company is the parent of PayPal is the parent of payment apps Venmo and Xoom and the coupon service Honey, among other brands. PayPal said the cuts would affect different brands unequally, although it did not specify further.

    Robinhood

    The company, whose app helped attract a new generation of investors to the market, announced in August that it would reduce its headcount by 23%, or approximately 780 people. That’s the second round of recent layoffs for the company, which last year cut 9% of its workforce.

    Salesforce

    The company cut 10% of its workforce, or about 7,300 employees, in January. It also said it was closing some offices, citing a “challenging” environment and lower customer spending. 

    Snap

    The parent company of social media platform Snapchat said in August that it was letting go of 20% of its staff. Snap’s staff has grown to more than 5,600 employees in recent years, meaning that, even after laying off more than 1,000 people, Snap’s staff would be larger than it was a year earlier.

    Spotify

    The music streaming service said in January it was cutting 6% of its workforce, or roughly 580 jobs, as part of a push to make the company more efficient. In 2022, Spotify’s operating costs grew twice as fast as its revenue, CEO Daniel Ek said, a pace he called “unsustainable.”

    “We still spend far too much time syncing on slightly different strategies, which slows us down,” CEO Daniel Elk said in a January 23 letter to employees posted on the company’s site. “And in a challenging economic environment, efficiency takes on greater importance.”

    Stripe

    The payment processor announced layoffs of roughly 1,000 workers in November,  amounting to 14% of its workforce. In an email to employees posted on Stripe’s website, CEO Patrick Collison said the company expected “leaner times” amid worsening economic conditions.

    Twitter

    About half of the social media platform’s staff of 7,500 was let go after the billionaire CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, acquired the service in October. An unknown number have left, with some objecting to the new ownership and Musk’s demand for an “extremely hardcore” attitude.

    Wayfair

    The online shopping company announced in January that it would cut 1,750 workers, or about 10% of its global employees, as it adjusts to falling consumer demand after the home-renovation boom of the pandemic. It’s the second round of layoffs for the Boston-based company, which cut 870 employees in August.

    CEO Niraj Shah said the company “simply grew too big.”

    “In hindsight, similar to our technology peers, we scaled our spend too quickly over the last few years,” Shah said in a statement.

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  • Yellowstone Dutton Ranch Trucks To Surprise Toronto Commuters With Lyft Rides 

    Yellowstone Dutton Ranch Trucks To Surprise Toronto Commuters With Lyft Rides 

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    By Melissa Romualdi.
    Published:
    Last updated:

    “Yellowstone” fans and Lyft riders residing in Toronto may be surprised this Friday with the ultimate Yellowstone Dutton Ranch experience.

    For one day only, on Nov. 18, Prime Video Channels, in collaboration with Lyft, RAM and Paramount+, are offering premium Lyft rides across Toronto to celebrate the new season of “Yellowstone”, now available to stream on Paramount+, part of Prime Video channels.


    READ MORE:
    ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Premieres With Heartbreaking Loss For The Dutton Family

    Photo: Courtesy of Golin
    Photo: Courtesy of Golin
    Photo: Courtesy of Golin
    Photo: Courtesy of Golin
    Photo: Courtesy of Golin

    Three Dutton Ranch RAM pickup trucks will venture across the city surprising Torontonians who use the rideshare service, as they randomly pick up lucky passengers throughout the morning.


    READ MORE:
    Lainey Wilson Shares How Her ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Acting Debut Came About: ‘It’s Really Crazy’

    Fans and rideshare customers alike will get to experience riding in an exact replica of the Dutton Ranch RAM pickup truck that transports them to Montana’s western landscape and will also receive a free 7-day trial of Paramount+.

    Happy commuting!

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    Melissa Romualdi

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  • Lyft announces emergency features and discounted car maintenance for car owners

    Lyft announces emergency features and discounted car maintenance for car owners

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    Lyft launched 10 years ago as a ride-on-demand service, where customers can order a car and go using an app. Now, the company is offering its customers who have cars an additional suite of services including discounts on car repairs.

    Lyft co-founder and president John Zimmer revealed first to “CBS Mornings” new monthly membership features for the 75% of Lyft customers who also own or lease a car. With a $9.99 per month Lyft Pink membership, customers have coverage for up to four roadside emergencies per year, as well as the ability to arrange discounted car repairs or maintenance at a shop and also find, reserve and pay for parking within the app.

    “It should, over time, be the most affordable way to manage your vehicle,” Zimmer said. 

    It’s the next move for a company that started in 2012 and boasted $3.2 billion in revenue last year. But expansion has its challenges: some analysts see Lyft struggling in the shadow of its rideshare competitor, Uber.

    Senior analyst Brent Thill at the financial services company, Jefferies, said he predicts “a tough road ahead” for Lyft.

    “They don’t have what Uber has with Uber Eats, and many of the other product lines that they have,” Thrill said. So there’s just a greater diversification of revenue streams from Uber versus Lyft really being a one-trick pony.”

    That’s why he says Lyft’s stock price has taken a much bigger hit than Uber’s this year, dropping roughly 76% year-to-date compared to Uber’s roughly 32% dip. 

    But Zimmer contrasted the new Lyft Pink membership features to Uber’s expansion to Uber Eats “in the sense that they’re doing food and parts of transportation” while Lyft is “doubling down on transportation.”

    He also said he thinks the new services are “incrementally helpful” in terms of Lyft’s future. 

    “I don’t know exactly how the Street will respond, but showing that we’re doing things to increase the amount of transportation spend that happens on the platform, showing that we’re providing services to customers that increases their loyalty, showing that we have new growth verticals is absolutely helpful,” Zimmer said. 

    As part of an industrywide trend, the company earlier this month laid off some 13% of its workforce to bring costs down.

    “I see a period of a decade where everything was up and to the right, and a lot of companies were incentivized to grow, grow, grow at any cost,” Zimmer said. “And we’re now in an environment where that capital has dried up, and people have to cut back and that’s what’s happening.”

    He admitted that Lyft has “never had as much cash as our competitor” or resources.

    “So we’re scrappy,” he said. “We’ll look at this as a challenge but an opportunity to get better at what we do.”

    Nonetheless, Zimmer remains confident. He said he believes analysts who doubt the company’s “ability to weather any storms ahead” are “absolutely wrong.”

    “Look at how we’ve weathered whatever has been thrown our way,” he said. “Don’t bet against us.”

    He assured that Lyft is in “a much better situation” than it was seven years ago, when it only had five month’s worth of money.

    “I’m confident in what we’re doing,” Zimmer said. “We’ve overcome way harder challenges and I’m excited about the future.”

    Anna Werner wernera@cbsnews.com

    Anna Werner is the consumer investigative national correspondent for “CBS Mornings.” Her reporting is featured across all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.

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  • Investors may be whistling past the graveyard of a recession with latest rally in stocks

    Investors may be whistling past the graveyard of a recession with latest rally in stocks

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    Investors feeling giddy about last week’s sharp rally for stocks might want to give a listen to Tom Waits’ song, “Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard” from 1978, to sober up for the dangers that still lurk ahead.

    The surge in stocks catapulted the S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +0.92%
    almost back to the 4,000 mark on Friday, also lifting it to the biggest weekly gain in roughly five months, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    Investors showed courage on signs of a slight slowing of inflation, but the fortitude also comes as a drearier backdrop for investors has been unfolding in plain sight. Massive layoffs at big technology companies, the dramatic implosion of crypto-exchange FTX, and the day-to-day pain of high inflation and skyrocketing borrowing on businesses and households are all taking a toll.

    “We are not convinced this is the beginning of a new bull market,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CRFA Research. “We believe that we are headed for recession. That has not been factored into earnings estimates and, therefore, share prices.”

    Stovall also said the stock market has yet to see the “traditional shakeout of confidence capitulation that we typically see that marks the end of the bear markets.”

    From Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    +1.03%
    to Lyft Inc.
    LYFT,
    +12.59%
    to Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    +5.51%
    there is a wave of major technology companies resorting to layoffs this fall, a threat that could sweep other sectors of the economy if a recession materializes.

    Yet, information technology stocks in the S&P 500 jumped 10% for the week, while financials, which stand to benefit from higher interest rates, rose 5.7%, according to FactSet.

    That could reflect optimism about the odds of a slower pace of Federal Reserve rate hikes in the months ahead, after sharp rate rises helped to undermine valuations and pull tech stocks dramatically lower in the past year. However, Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, and other Fed officials since the October inflation reading on Thursday have reiterated the need to keep rates high, until 7.7% annual rate finds a clearer path to the central bank’s 2% target.

    The stock-market rally also might suggest that investors view continued mayhem in the crypto sector as contained, despite bitcoin
    BTCUSD,
    +0.42%
    trading near its lowest level in two years and the shocking collapse in recent days of FTX, once the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange.

    Read: FTX’s fall: ‘This is the worst’ moment for crypto this year. Here’s what you should know.

    What happens to stocks in recessions

    Blows to the American economy rarely have been good for stocks. A look at seven past recessions, starting in 1969, shows declines for the S&P 500 as more typical than gains, with its most violent drop occurring in the 2007-2009 recession.

    The more than 37% drop of the S&P 500 from 2007 to 2009 was the worst of its kind in a recession since the late 1960s.


    Refinitiv data, London Stock Exchange Group

    While a looming U.S. recession isn’t a foregone conclusion, CEOs of America’s biggest banks have been warning about the risks for months. JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon said in October that a “tough recession” could drag the S&P 500 down another 20%, even though he also said consumers were doing fine, for now.

    Still, the steady stream of warnings about the recession odds have left many Americans confused and wondering if one can even happen without an increase in job losses.

    Big moves lately in stocks also have been hard to decode, given the economy was shocked back to life in the pandemic by trillions of dollars in fiscal stimulus and easy-money policies from the Fed that are now being reversed.

    “What I think goes unnoticed, certainly by the average person, is that these moves are not normal,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, about stock swings this week.

    “It’s all about who is positioned how — and for what — and how much leverage they’re employing,” Martin told MarketWatch. “You get these outsized moves when people are offside.”

    Here’s a view of the sharp trajectory upward of the S&P 500 since 2010, but also its dramatic drop this year.

    Sharp rise of S&P 500 since 2010, but recent fall


    Refinitiv Datastream

    While Martin isn’t ruling out the potential for a seasonal “Santa Claus” rally heading into year-end, he worries about a potential leg lower for stocks next year, particularly with the Fed likely to keep interest rates high.

    “Certainly what’s being priced in now is either no recession or a very, very mild recession,” he said .

    However, Kristina Hooper, Invesco’s chief global market strategist, said the overarching story might be one of stocks sniffing out the first steps in a path to economic recovery, and the Fed potentially stopping its rate hikes at a lower “terminal” rate than expected.

    The Fed increased its benchmark interest rate to a 3.75% to 4% range in November, the highest in 15 years, but also has signaled it could top out near 4.5% to 4.75%.

    “If often happens that you can see stocks do well, in a less-than-good economic environment,” she said.

    The S&P 500 rose 4.2% for the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.10%
    gained 5.9%, posting its best weekly gain since late June, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 8.1% for the week, its best weekly stretch in seven months.

    In U.S. economic data, investors will get an update on household debt on Tuesday, retail sales and homebuilder data on Wednesday, followed by jobless claims and housing starts data Thursday. Friday brings existing home sales.

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  • Lyft to lay off 13% of staff | CNN Business

    Lyft to lay off 13% of staff | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    Lyft on Thursday said it will lay off 13% of its staff, or nearly 700 employees, as it rethinks staffing amid rising inflation and fears of a looming recession.

    In a memo to staffers on Thursday, a copy of which was shared with CNN Business, Lyft

    (LYFT)     co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer said the layoffs will impact every part of the company, and pointed to broader macroeconomic challenges that led to the cuts.

    “We know today will be hard,” the founders wrote in the memo. “We’re facing a probable recession sometime in the next year and rideshare insurance costs are going up.”

    “We worked hard to bring down costs this summer: we slowed, then froze hiring; cut spending; and paused less-critical initiatives,” the memo said. “Still, Lyft has to become leaner, which requires us to part with incredible team members.”

    For much of the pandemic, the tech industry only seemed to grow bigger as consumers shifted more of their lives online. But a number of tech companies reported slowing growth in the September quarter, as customers and advertisers rethink spending. Many in the tech sector are now rethinking their investments and staffing needs.

    Amazon on Thursday said it planned to implement a pause on corporate hiring for months, citing the economic climate. Also on Thursday, Stripe, a payment processing company and one of the world’s most valuable startups, announced it is laying off 14% of staffers.

    “We were much too optimistic about the internet economy’s near-term growth in 2022 and 2023 and underestimated both the likelihood and impact of a broader slowdown,” Stripe CEO Patrick Collison wrote in a note to employees.

    Lyft’s move, however, comes as its chief rival, Uber, bucked the trend by reporting strong revenue growth, fueled by demand for rides and meal deliveries. Lyft is set to report earnings results on Monday.

    “We are not immune to the realities of inflation and a slowing economy,” Lyft’s founders wrote in the memo to staffers.

    In a company filing on Thursday, Lyft confirmed the plans involving the “termination of approximately 683 employees” and said it will incur approximately $27 million to $32 million of “restructuring and related charges” due to severance and benefits costs.

    Shares for Lyft are down nearly 70% so far this year.

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  • Higher Hotel And Car Supply Chain Pressuring Package Travel Options

    Higher Hotel And Car Supply Chain Pressuring Package Travel Options

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    Supply chain is a term that used to be used only by those in business or logistics. Today, we hear this daily as to why baby formula is not available, or why containers are stacked up in a port. At Dario’s Italian restaurant in Boston’s Logan airport, on a recent visit they had no cream delivered so could not make some of the items on the menu. The waiter said “you know, the supply chain problem.” Airlines have used supply chain excuses to explain late delivery of aircraft or why they can’t meet a pre-anticipated level of capacity. In many things we buy, we realize our dependency on supply chains when things are not available as we’d expect.

    Airline travelers are facing supply chain problems in other areas, too. Package tours, meaning vacations bought that include a flight, hotel, maybe a car, and experiences, have been affected because not all opportunities have been available or the prices have been especially high. While leisure travel in general was strong in the summer and has stayed strong into the fall, this category of leisure travel is challenged and represents a small risk to a full airline demand recovery.

    Important Segment Of Leisure Travel

    People travel for leisure for many reasons. Package Tours make up a small segment of all leisure travel, but this segment is more important to certain destinations. About 30% of travelers say that they want to pack a lot experiences into their vacation. For these people, a package tour can be the way to fill the days. In 2019, my family took a two-week vacation to Vietnam. We worked with a local travel agency who arranged our internal flights, all hotels, and made us aware of many different activities. We likely could have arranged this all ourselves had we taken time to explore and search, but buying the tour was worth it for us and we had a great and memorable time.

    Especially internationally, package tours can be way to see things and get access that would be difficult or more expensive another way. When hotels are not available or certain activities are not available due to supply chain shortages, this could change the desire to visit a place. While the amount of travel or number of travelers may not change, these supply chain challenges could affect international leisure destinations the most and correspondingly the airlines that fly these routes.

    Staffing Issues Affecting Hotels And Resorts

    One of the biggest issues affecting package rates is the sharp increase in hotel and resort rates. One industry executive stated that while the employee shortages were more acute last year, many properties have kept the higher rates put in place at this time even as some of the pressures have waned. Like airlines, price elasticity affects hotels and resorts, meaning that higher rates reduce the demand. While the “revenge travel” idea may mute this somewhat, eventually higher rates will dampen demand.

    Consumers often decide a trip based on the total price. Higher prices for air fares and hotel rates means one of two things: some locations will suffer absolute volume, and others will get visits but for shorter stays. For both airlines and hotels, one advantage of a package price is that the amount paid for the air fare and the hotel is opaque to the buyer. This allows the airline or the hotel to offer promotional rates to fill otherwise unused capacity, but in a way that doesn’t invite a competitive match or dilute the non-packaged “rack rates.’’

    Car Rentals Still Challenged

    Car rental companies returned many vehicles just after the pandemic hit, and still are facing shortages in vehicles in many locations. Just as new cars are facing supply problems, due to chips or other supply chain issues, this has meant that rental companies often don’t have enough vehicles to meet demand. On a recent trip to Florida, we were told that on check-in that no cars would be available for two to three hours. When we walked out to the car area were able to take a Ford F150 that had just been returned, even though we had rented a mid-size.

    Another industry executive referred to car rental rates as staying “incredibly inflated.” This, like the flight and hotel issue, adds more uncertainty to the package opportunity that likely will be more highlighted at busy holiday times. It also means that ride share, like Uber or Lyft, will likely to be used more often for some trips. Like the hotels are doing, it is likely that car rental companies will test keeping their higher rates even as they bring car inventories back to demand-satisfying levels.

    Housing Prices Can Affect This Travel

    One often under-appreciated aspect of package vacations is the relationship with housing prices and valuations. For some demographics, home equity loans are the primary way these vacations are funded. When housing values are high and interest rates are low, there is more equity to tap in a loan to take this kind of family trip. With interest rates shooting up and housing values stalling, this limits the ability to take such a loan or raise the rates to a point uncomfortable for many potential buyers.

    This doesn’t affect all buyers of these products, but affects some of it. The industry has seen this in other environments, like in the housing crisis of 2008-2011. During this time, some of the most price-sensitive travel just vanished as people’s source of funding evaporated.

    Contributes To Revenue Uncertainty

    In the recent Delta Airline’s earnings release, CEO Ed Bastian spoke bullishly about the demand environment. He focused on the normal drop off from summer to fall not happening, and pointed out that there are no signs demand is weakening. Most of his comments were about business travel and higher-priced leisure travel. While higher-priced leisure may be an industry strength over the next year, there are still many pressures holding back a full volume return of corporate business travel.

    Airline industry revenues may be leveraged more on business and higher-end travel, but the high fixed costs of the industry means that airlines often need to fill in gaps with price-sensitive leisure travelers. When hotel, rental car and other prices for vacationers rise, it adds to the the uncertainty of the revenue environment. While many trends are positive, as Delta pointed out, this strength is not top to bottom and this creates some uncertainty in total revenues. Different airline business models may be more at risk than others for some of these trends.

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  • Biden administration proposes new rule that could upend

    Biden administration proposes new rule that could upend

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    The Biden administration is proposing a rule that could result in more “gig” workers being considered full-time employees, a potentially major shift in the nation’s labor laws that could disrupt ride-sharing, delivery, construction and other companies that employ independent contractors.

    The draft rule, to be formally published on Thursday, is a test that the Department of Labor uses when it determines if employers broke wage and hour laws. It formally directs the agency to consider six factors when determining if a worker is an employee — and therefore entitled to minimum wage, overtime and the right to unionize — or an independent contractor, which is essentially a self-employed individual in business for themselves.

    “We continue in our enforcement work to identify workers who are not properly classified, in construction, health care, even in restaurants, where we found that dishwashers were improperly classified as independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime,” Jessica Looman, principal deputy wage and hour administrator with the Labor Department, told reporters on Tuesday.

    After the Labor Department proposal is published, the rule will remain open for public input for 45 days, officials said.

    Gig Workers Rising, a group that advocates for more protections for platform workers, praised the proposed rule.

    “Uber, Lyft and DoorDash make their money off of drivers like me and govern my pay and working conditions, yet they claim they don’t need to protect my safety or even pay me a living wage. They can’t continue to have their cake and eat it too,” Rondu Gatt, a driver and organizer with the group, said in a statement.

    “Gig workers deserve all of the rights that other employees have, including the right to organize,” Gatt added.

    Independent contractors are typically much cheaper to hire since they are responsible for their own payroll taxes and job expenses and don’t qualify for overtime or minimum wage. The National Employment Law Project, a pro-worker think tank, has estimated that as many as 30% of workers may be wrongly categorized as independent, lowering their pay and costing states billions of dollars in tax revenue. 

    The proposed rule formally replaces a Trump administration regulation that made it easier for companies to legally classify workers as independent contractors. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh maintains that thousands of workers, including gig workers who drive cars, deliver food and clean houses, are actually employees, because the companies that hire them set their hours and pay.  

    Gig stocks sink

    Gig company stocks plummeted on the news. Uber and Lyft fell more than 12% in early trading, while DoorDash dropped about 9% in early trading. The stocks later recovered some of their losses.

    The proposal is “a clear blow to the gig economy and a near-term concern for the likes of Uber and Lyft,” Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush, said in a note.

    “With ride-sharing and other gig economy players depending on the contractor business model, a classification to employees would essentially throw the business model upside down and cause some major structural changes if this holds,” he wrote. 

    Ride-hailing companies, which are not consistently profitable, have said they can’t afford to pay drivers as employees, while spending hundreds of millions of dollars to win legislative carve-outs from state worker protection laws. 

    However, Uber and Lyft said on Tuesday that the new rule would not damage their business model. In a statement echoing the Labor Department, Uber said the rule “takes a measured approach, essentially returning us to the Obama era, during which our industry grew exponentially.”

    “This is just the first step in what is likely to be a longer process before any final rule or determination is made,” Lyft said in a statement noting the company had been expecting the rule change. 

    Tech companies with large on-demand workforces have maintained that “gig” workers prefer the flexibility that comes with being an independent contractor over what they call “traditional” employment.

    “We believe that people should continue to be able to choose where, when, how often and with which companies they work,” the Flex Association, which represents gig-based employers, said in a blog post. “We’ve found that even when spread across platforms, app-based workers work an average of eight hours per week,” the group said.

    However, workers who rely on these platforms to make a living often complain of long hours, inconsistent pay and seemingly arbitrary changes to apps that can affect what they earn.

    The Labor Department noted that under current labor law, “employers are free to allow employees to work as little or as much as they want.”

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  • Lyft announces new CEO, says co-founders will step aside from management positions | CNN Business

    Lyft announces new CEO, says co-founders will step aside from management positions | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Lyft announced on Monday that Amazon veteran David Risher will join as chief executive next month, and that co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer will step down from their management positions at the ride-hailing company.

    Green, who is currently the CEO, will be succeeded by Risher effective April 17, the company said in a statement. Zimmer, Lyft’s president, will also step down from his role as of June 30, the company said. Both Green and Zimmer will stay on at Lyft in non-executive roles as chair and vice chair of the Lyft board, respectively. No replacement for Zimmer was named.

    The leadership shakeup at the ride-hailing company comes as it has struggled to turn a profit over the years and after its stock has taken a beating in recent months, shedding more than 13% so far in 2023. Late last year the company said it was cutting 13% of its staff, or 700 employees, as part of a major effort to cut costs. Lyft’s stock rose about 4% in after-hours trading Monday on the news.

    Lyft

    (LYFT)     emphasized Risher’s management experience at Amazon

    (AMZN)     and Microsoft

    (MSFT)    , though he has not worked at either in two decades according to his LinkedIn profile. He was the 37th employee of Amazon

    (AMZN)    , and went on to become the e-commerce giant’s first head of product and head of US retail, according to a statement from Lyft

    (LYFT)    .

    Risher has been a member of the Lyft board since July 2021, and has spent the past 13 years working at a nonprofit he co-founded aimed at getting children to read more.

    “I am honored to step into the CEO role at such an important moment in the company’s history, and am prepared to take this business to new levels of success,” Risher said in a statement.

    Green added in a separate statement that building the company over the past 16 years has “been the adventure of a lifetime.”

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  • How Uber left Lyft in the dust | CNN Business

    How Uber left Lyft in the dust | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    For years, Lyft positioned itself as the “nice guy” in the ride-hailing industry. It let rival Uber do most of the dirty work fighting regulators and the taxi industry to create a path for a new crop of companies to offer rides to customers through an app.

    In the process, Lyft cultivated a feel-good brand – but Uber dominated the market. For a brief moment in 2017, however, it looked like the balance of power might shift, as Uber was rocked by a seemingly endless series of PR crises that culminated with its founder and CEO Travis Kalanick stepping down.

    Six years later, however, Lyft’s position is arguably more precarious than it has ever been. Uber now has 74% of the US rideshare market, up from 62% in 2020, according to market research firm YipitData, while Lyft’s market share slipped to 26% from 38% during that same period. Meanwhile, Lyft stock has plunged nearly 90% since it went public in 2019.

    In a nod to those challenges, Lyft announced Monday that its two cofounders, Logan Green and John Zimmer, would step back from their management roles and the company would bring in Amazon veteran and Lyft board member David Risher to take the helm of Lyft as CEO.

    In its announcement, Lyft framed the leadership change as a straightforward succession plan. “All founders eventually find the right moment to step back and the right leaders to take their company forward,” Green said in a statement. “As a member of the board, he knows both the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

    For Lyft, the current challenges are immense. While Uber diversified its business beyond ride-hailing by delivering meals and grocery items, Lyft never did. That arguably hurt the company earlier in the pandemic when fewer customers were traveling but more were ordering items online. Late last year, Lyft said it was cutting 13% of its staff, or 700 employees, as part of a major effort to cut costs.

    At the same time, Lyft now faces an Uber that is run by a seasoned executive, Expedia veteran Dara Khosrowshahi, who immediately got to work straightening up the company’s business and image. Under Khosrowshahi, Uber doubled down on growing its meal delivery business, while working to cut costs elsewhere, including by selling off more experimental efforts like its self-driving car unit.

    In its most recent earnings report last month, Uber said that it had its “strongest quarter ever,” reporting a 49% year-over-year increase in revenue. Lyft’s latest earnings report, meanwhile, was unusually disappointing for Wall Street.

    One tech analyst, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, said Lyft’s conference call to discuss the results “was a Top 3 worst call we have ever heard” as its “management is trying to play darts blindfolded.” He slammed the earnings outlook offered on the call as a “debacle for the ages.”

    With Risher as the new CEO, Lyft is clearly hoping for a turnaround. Risher was the 37th employee of Amazon – a company that has long been the model for the on-demand industry – and he went on to become the e-commerce giant’s first head of product and head of US retail. In its statement announcing Risher as the new CEO, Lyft pointed to his legacy at Amazon: “In tribute to Mr. Risher’s contributions, Jeff Bezos added a permanent thank-you to the Amazon website, where it can still be seen  today.”

    Tom White, a senior research analyst at D.A. Davidson, wrote in a note this week that the new CEO “could signal an increased willingness to broaden the strategic aperture at  LYFT a bit as it relates to areas like product strategy (delivery), partnerships, or other novel ways to create value.”

    Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (left); current Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (right).

    Nicholas Cauley, an analyst at research firm Third Bridge, wrote that Lyft “still has many levers it can pull to regain market share.” He added: “There are still improvements to be made and a leadership change is a positive catalyst for turning the ship around.”

    But in an interview with CNN’s Julia Chatterley on Wednesday, Risher seemed to dash hopes that Lyft would borrow from Uber’s playbook and branch into other delivery categories.

    Risher told CNN he wants to make sure Lyft focuses on providing a great ride-hailing service and “not get distracted by delivering pizzas or packages or all sorts of other things that other companies are doing.”

    “I don’t really want to get in the same car that, you know, just delivered the tuna sandwich,” he added. “And if you talk to drivers, they say, ‘Gosh, I don’t make as much in food delivery and it’s more frustrating. I get tickets when I’m double parked in front of the restaurant and so forth.’ So, you know, I think that, that Uber has its challenges too. I really do.”

    Risher also said “it’s not our focus” to pursue a sale of the company.

    While the market initially seemed to welcome Risher’s appointment, the slight uptick in Lyft stock after the news came out was quickly wiped out a day later once Risher started talking about his plans for the company.

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  • Lyft stock plunges nearly 15% on weaker than expected revenue forecast | CNN Business

    Lyft stock plunges nearly 15% on weaker than expected revenue forecast | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Lyft may have a bumpy road ahead to recovery.

    The ride-hailing company reported revenue of $1 billion for the quarter ending in March, marking a 14% year-over-year increase and beating Wall Street estimate’s. But the company forecast weaker-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, which was enough to jitter investors.

    Shares of Lyft plunged nearly 15% in after-hours trading Thursday following the earnings results.

    The latest earnings report comes on the heels of Lyft shaking up its the C-suite and announcing plans to cut 26% of its employees as it fights for market share and profitability.

    David Risher, who previously worked at Amazon and Microsoft, recently took over as CEO of Lyft and the company’s two co-founders stepped down from their management positions at the company. Risher has been a member of the Lyft board since 2021.

    On a conference call with analysts on Thursday to discuss the results, Risher said Lyft is currently at “an inflection point” as people return to pre-pandemic social habits.

    “I am very aware of our current levels of growth and profitability are not acceptable,” Risher said on the call, his first as CEO. “I am committed to growing Lyft into a large, durable, profitable business, that our riders, drivers and shareholders love, and I look forward to keeping you informed on our progress.”

    Compared to its chief rival Uber, Lyft has so far struggled to bounce back from the pandemic’s hit to its business. While Uber diversified its business beyond ride-hailing by delivering meals and grocery items during the health crises, Lyft never did. Uber also was able to attract drivers back to the platform better than Lyft as pandemic restrictions eased in the U.S.

    Earlier this week, Uber said in its quarterly earnings report that revenue was up 29%, as demand for its rideshare and delivery services held firm despite lingering recession fears.

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  • How Lyft’s new CEO is ‘copying’ his former boss Jeff Bezos to turn around the company | CNN Business

    How Lyft’s new CEO is ‘copying’ his former boss Jeff Bezos to turn around the company | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    David Risher had a rocky first week at his job.

    Days after taking over as the new CEO of Lyft

    (LYFT)     last month, Risher announced plans to “significantly reduce” the company’s workforce and stressed that the decision was his. The next week, Lyft

    (LYFT)     revealed the extent of the layoffs: 26% of the staff, or more than 1,000 employees, would lose their jobs.

    “It was a very, very tough decision and a tough, you know, set of days and weeks to go through, of course,” Risher told CNN in an interview Thursday. “Nobody likes it.”

    “But,” he added, “It’s also really important for us to be a strong player.”

    Lyft hasn’t seemed like such a strong player of late. The company has shed 90% of its market value since going public in 2019. It has lagged behind its chief rival, Uber

    (UBER)    , in recovering from the pandemic shock to business. And Lyft has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and management changes, including Risher taking over as CEO last month and the company’s two co-founders stepping back.

    Now, Lyft’s new chief executive says he hopes to draw on the lessons from Amazon

    (AMZN)    , where he worked very early on, and from his former boss Jeff Bezos in his efforts to turn the rideshare company around.

    “We’re going to focus on customers,” Risher said, alluding to Amazon’s guiding principle. “That’s a fundamental, just truth of business – if you can create a business that, really, your customers love, you can do amazing things for the world.”

    Many tech companies like to compare themselves to Amazon, but if anyone has the credibility to say it, Lyft is probably hoping it’s Risher. Risher was Amazon’s 37th employee, and his contributions are memorialized on the site with a thank-you note from Bezos, which can still be seen today more than two decades after Risher left the company.

    In its first product update since Risher took the helm at Lyft, the rideshare company on Thursday unveiled new features aimed at taking some of the pain points out of the summer travel season. With the update, customers can preorder their Lyft rides from the airport the moment their plane touches the ground; Lyft then handles the rest of the logistics to ensure a driver is waiting for the customer as they exit the airport.

    The airport preorder option rolled out at Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports on Thursday, with plans to expand to other airports in the near future.

    “You can outsource a lot of that stress to us, that’s what we want to do. And that really is Jeff Bezos,” Risher told CNN. “I’m just copying his strategy that worked pretty well for Amazon. I think it can work pretty well for Lyft and our customers.”

    But as Risher works to revive Lyft’s fortunes, he faces a rival, Uber, that has shown renewed strength in recent quarters. (Uber has also added features to make airport pickups less painful.)

    When asked what went wrong for Lyft, Risher told CNN, “I think the pandemic went wrong with Lyft.” But the pandemic did not impact Lyft and Uber the same.

    Under the leadership of Expedia veteran Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over after founder Travis Kalanick resigned following a long list of PR crises, Uber doubled down on diversifying its business with meal deliveries. That service has helped carry it through the pandemic and bounce back quicker as the economy reopened.

    But in a previous interview with CNN, Risher seemed to dash hopes that Lyft would borrow from Uber’s playbook and branch into other delivery categories.

    Risher told CNN’s Julia Chatterley he wants to make sure Lyft focuses on providing a great ride-hailing service and “not get distracted by delivering pizzas or packages or all sorts of other things that other companies are doing.”

    For now, Risher and Lyft are focusing on the all-important summer travel season.

    Another update unveiled Thursday helps customers get out the door to the airport at the best time by syncing their flight info from their smartphone calendar into their Lyft app to get reminders about booking airport rides. Risher told reporters Thursday that the basic idea for this arose because he and his wife could never agree on the best time to leave for the airport.

    “Our focus right now as summer travel begins is really de-stressing the airport experience in particular,” Risher told CNN.

    Risher demurred when asked if Lyft would be an independent company a year from now, after many industry-watchers initially thought news of his appointment was aimed at positioning the company for a sale.

    “It’s not our focus to be part of somebody else’s company,” Risher said.

    Uber may be outpacing Lyft today, but Risher believes customers are best served by having both companies around.

    “My view is every single person who’s a rider should have both apps on their phone, I really believe that, because sometimes you want a choice,” he added, “but then we want you to choose Lyft, and the reason we want you to choose Lyft is because we think we can provide a better experience.”

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  • Recording Passengers: The ‘Dash Cam Dilemma’

    Recording Passengers: The ‘Dash Cam Dilemma’

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: Jun 2, 2019


    CHICAGO, June 2, 2019 (Newswire.com)
    –
    LegalRideshare, the only law firm in the US to focus exclusively on rideshare, is often tapped with the question of the dash cam dilemma: “can a driver record me if I don’t know about it or agree to it?”

    First, it’s important to consider: “is an Uber or Lyft a private situation?” LegalRideshare will often lean on the side of “no, it’s not.” It’s comparable to taking public transportation like a bus in a major city. If passengers wouldn’t go outside and scream something absurd, they shouldn’t say it in an Uber. 

    Understandably, passengers are still looking for their rights to be protected, even if legally a driver can record you in the car without your consent. 

    So how can drivers protect themselves and make passengers feel safe? 

    We always recommend drivers get a sticker for the back window of your car, acknowledging there’s a dash cam (LegalRideshare have these stickers and gives them away for free). In states like Illinois, which is two-party consent, this really covers any issue that may arise. It’s also important that drivers let riders know this is for their benefit as well, in case of an accident or assault.

    When does it go too far?

    A few months ago a driver was livestreaming his passengers on Twitch. This is not only a breach of trust, but a guaranteed deactivation. Recording passengers in case of an accident is one thing. Using them for a reality TV show is another.

    Check out LegalRideshare’s interview with ABC news where they go into more details about recording passengers.

    Source: LegalRideshare

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  • On Halloween, a Ghoulishly Good Deal: Free Cab Rides Home in Oakland

    On Halloween, a Ghoulishly Good Deal: Free Cab Rides Home in Oakland

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: Oct 24, 2018


    OAKLAND, Calif., October 24, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
     Wherever people choose to spend Halloween night in Oakland, there will be no shortage of entertaining activities to choose from. They could go to a themed dance party by the waterfront, see the defending world champion Golden State Warriors put a scare into the New Orleans Pelicans or laugh the night away at the Halloween Hullabaloo standup comedy show. When the night is over, help Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis, Larsen & Lucey (GJELL) keep danger off the road by joining the Drink and Alive Free Cab Ride Program.

    In Oakland and the other cities that make up Alameda County, 68 people were injured in traffic collisions last year on Halloween or the day after. One of those people died.

    Auto injuries are always preventable. Let’s all do our part to make the streets in Oakland safer on Halloween.

    Andy Gillin, GJELL partner

    “Auto injuries are always preventable. Let’s all do our part to make the streets in Oakland safer on Halloween,” said GJELL partner Andy Gillin.

    The program is simple. Register as a Free Cab Ride Program participant at GJEL.com/free, then pay for the ride up front. GJELL will reimburse the cost.

    Participants must be 21 or older. The offer is valid for a single one-way ride to a safe destination in Oakland and other Bay Area cities. Rides starting on Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 5 p.m. and ending Thursday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m. are eligible for reimbursement up to $25. One reimbursement per household is allowed.

    After the event, GJELL will send online instructions to participants for reimbursement to a valid PayPal account.

    About GJEL Accident Attorneys

    GJEL Accident Attorneys is a San Francisco Bay Area law firm representing plaintiffs in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases since 1972. More information is available at gjel.com and our Oakland office page.

    Contact:

    Casey Meraz
    (925) 253-5800
    casey@gjel.com

    Source: Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis, Larsen & Lucey

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  • StopforChange Launches in New York City in Reponse to Rash of NYC Driver Suicides

    StopforChange Launches in New York City in Reponse to Rash of NYC Driver Suicides

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    A Movement launched to organize NYC drivers for better pay following three cases of NYC drivers in economic distress committing suicide.

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Feb 12, 2018


    NEW YORK, February 12, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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    StopforChange is a movement formed in response to three NYC drivers in economic distress committing suicide. At a Candlelight Vigil at City Hall, where earlier Douglas Schifter committed suicide (with a shotgun, no less), attendees gathered, channeling pain into strength, they vowed to heed Schifter’s call to unite drivers.

    The thing holding all drivers back is a feeling of helplessness. As the NYC rideshare market continues to mint millionaires and billionaires, drivers are working longer hours for less pay. Moe Gangat summed up the state of play: “Founders and investors get all the money — and it is a lot of money. Drivers have no say, no seat at the bargaining table. Hell, there is no bargaining table. It is just Uber, Lyft, and Juno forcing contracts down their throats. So drivers get the shaft. It is a broken system and a total nightmare.”

    Founders and investors get all the money — and it is a lot of money. Drivers have no say, no seat at the bargaining table. Hell, there is no bargaining table. It is just Uber, Lyft, and Juno forcing contracts down their throats. So drivers get the shaft. It is a broken system and a total nightmare.

    Moe Gangat, Movement Organizer

    StopforChange cautions against trying yet another strike. Says Moe Gangat: “Asking drivers to stop driving — and stop earning — even for just a few days is asking too much. We are not doing a strike. At least not a strike in the traditional sense. We have new ideas that will take hard work but we see the road ahead. Every driver we meet gets it. We’re excited to see it come together.”

    StopforChange is getting bigger by the second. Movement members are connecting via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at invite-only weekly meetings (with free parking) near La Guardia Airport. The movement hopes to organize 1,000 drivers in its first month and 25,000 drivers by year’s end.

    About StopforChange: StopforChange is organizing NYC drivers to bargain for a fair share of NYC’s billion-dollar rideshare market. 25,000 drivers speaking as one will not be denied. All drivers want is fair pay. Get ready for #StopforChange. Join the movement and support drivers!

    www.stopforchange.com

    Join Our Facebook Group For Exclusive News and Access at https://www.facebook.com/stopforchange

    PressContact:

    Moe Gangat

    (718) 669-0714

    info@stopforchange.com

    Source: StopforChange

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