Uber rival Lyft fires 60 workers, shuts first-party car rental service

San Francisco, July 21

Uber rival Lyft has laid off at least 60 employees and shut its first-party car rental service as it aims to consolidate its global operations amid the macro-economic conditions.

According to Wall Street Journal, the layoffs covered less than 2 per cent of Lyft staff and mostly affected workers in operations.

Some staffers were given 30-day notice to leave the company.

"Hi all, yesterday my time at Lyft came to an end as I was impacted by layoffs that took place within the company. I am now in search of a new role and would love your support," Edgar Izaguirre, Senior Market Operations Associate at Lyft, posted on LinkedIn late on Wednesday.

The layoffs came as Lyft is set to report its second-quarter earnings.

Lyft has also shut down its first-party car rental service it was running in five locations.

The ride-hailing platform will still offer third-party rentals in over 30 locations.

"We have decided to discontinue Lyftas first-party rentals business to focus on our best-in-class third-party rentals with Sixt and Hertz," a Lyft spokesperson was quoted as saying in media reports.

"This decision will ensure we continue to have national coverage and offer riders a more seamless booking experience," the spokesperson added.

In an internal memo, Cal Lankton, vice president of fleet and global operations at Lyft, said that "our road to scaling first party rentals is long and challenging with significant uncertainty".

The company said it is going to continue working with big car-rental companies.