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Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

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Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#161

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.

[deleted]

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> base pay reductions of 30% for executive leadership Aren't executives mostly paid in stock and bonus?

Paying people in stock and performance bonuses is ideal during a downturn. It doesn't cost the company anything to pay people in stock, since it just siphons off value from all existing stock, and nobody's getting their performance bonus!

With GAAP reporting, stock comp goes on the income statement and affects the bottom line. So it has a visible effect for investors, but no one cares about P/E anymore so...

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#163
post #103

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 situation…

a great time for Amazon or Google to buy Lyft ...What would they do with it? The business model (also uber) as-is makes a loss. Uber/Lyft's initial proposition was that once ride sharing incumbents were established, they'd have a software-ish monopoly and margins. This did not work out. Now the proposition is "When driverless cars get invented..." If google had a car that can drive itself, they can figure out an app.…

Sure, I'll switch between ride sharing apps based on cost alone. But I'll still want available drivers near me. I'm not willing to try multiple apps just to see if it's usable.

I think Uber/Lyft's customer bases are definitely valuable. There's a real business there post Covid-19. I'm not sure what the margins would look like though. I think an acquisition might be a good idea if it was cheap enough and it looked like competitors wouldn't be able to use vc money to offer rides below cost.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#165

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.

There was an interesting piece in this week's Atlantic on the motivation for having states declare bankruptcy:

"Under the Constitution, bankruptcy is a power entirely reserved to the federal government. An American bankruptcy is overseen in federal court, by a federal judge, according to federal law. That’s why federal law can allow U.S. cities to go bankrupt, as many have done over the years. That’s why the financial restructuring of Puerto Rico can be overseen by a federal control board. Cities and territories are not sovereigns. Under the U.S. Constitution, U.S. states are.

Understand that, and you begin to understand the appeal of state bankruptcy to Republican legislators in the post-2010 era."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-mitch-...

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#166
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a great time for Amazon or Google to buy Lyft ...What would they do with it? The business model (also uber) as-is makes a loss. Uber/Lyft's initial proposition was that once ride sharing incumbents were established, they'd have a software-ish monopoly and margins. This did not work out. Now the proposition is "When driverless cars get invented..." If google had a car that can drive itself, they can figure out an app.…

Yes, it probably would be a valuable to Amazon. So valuable, in fact, that it already[1] exists. [1] https://flex.amazon.com/

Maybe it's just me, but "Amazon already has one" strikes me as the opposite of a reason for Amazon to buy Lyft.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real questions. I'm not a history buff. Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? Current question - what is the endgame for those who what blue states to go bankrupt? What do they get if that happens, outside of talking points?…

Yeah, the civil war.

The federal government was attacked to touch off the Civil War. Like, by men with guns. That's a rather critical distinction.

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#168

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.

Real questions. I'm not a history buff. Has there ever been a time in US history that the federal government has been so openly antagonistic and overtly willing to attack opposite-party state governments? If so, what were the outcomes? If not, is there anything even close? Current question - what is the endgame for those who what blue states to go bankrupt? What do they get if that happens, outside of talking points?…

End game for people like McConnell is that it puts downwards pressure on unions. A bankruptcy if a law is passed actually allowing states to go bankrupt would be a process overseen by federal courts, many of which are chaired by Trump appointed judges now. The judge gets to decide which debts are paid, meaning that pensions are very likely going to be chopped, hurting union members. There are other reasons.

Bottom line is that they want rich people (their primary donors) to get richer and don't care about poor or middle class. They are very open about it now and still somehow supported.

This is a good read on it:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-mitch-...

Re: Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more

#170
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.

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