Ride-hailing firm Lyft lost $135.7 million in the third quarter as a result of the closure of autonomous car firm Argo AI, in which Lyft had a small stake.
Late last month, Argo AI closed its doors as its key backers, Ford and Volkswagen, pulled their investments in passenger autos to tackle additional near-term goals like better driver assistance programs.
Lyft and Argo were working collectively to investigate autonomous ride-hailing using Argo’s technology on the Lyft platform. The two companies launched public robotics services in Austin, Texas in September and Miami, Florida in December last year. Both of these companies have now been closed, a Lyft spokesperson advised Thealike.
Lyft didn’t say how it would transition its AV technology sooner or later, but the company has also partnered with Motional, another AV tech company, to launch Robotaxis in Las Vegas in August.
Lyft’s loss from the Argo shutdown accounts for a few-thirds of the company’s full loss for the quarter. In Q2, Lyft lost $422.2 million, up from $99.7 million in the same period of 2021 and a loss of $377.2 million in the second quarter of this year.
A large portion of Lyft’s loss is attributable to $224.1 million in stock-based compensation and related payroll bills, an increase from $179.1 million within the second quarter. According to a Lyft spokesperson, Lyft has been aware of the top-ups issued to employees when the price of its inventory declined earlier in the year.
Lyft noted that the increase is not yet tied to a round of layoffs from the company, the first of which occurred in July and the second only last week as Lyft tries to cut working expenses.
With regard to that exemption in the workforce, Lyft expects to charge “between $27 million and $32 million” this fall, “in addition to stock-based compensation fees and payroll tax expense related to affected team members, as well as restructuring fees related to the decision to exit and sublease certain facilities, or discontinue use,” Ellen Paul, Lyft’s chief monetary officer, noted in Monday’s earnings release. “However, we We are not able to estimate these charges at this time as they depend on our future stock price.”
Paul also said that Lyft is working to reduce stock-based compensation by laying off new employees in the US and moving the hiring nexus away from the US into global markets such as Canada and Eastern Europe, where ” There is a different compensation model, with little or no equity.”
Lyft misses Q3 estimates
For the third quarter, Lyft reported earnings of $1.05 billion, which is . is less than Wall Street Expectations of $1.06 billion. The firm’s earnings per share hit — $1.18 versus $0.09 that was anticipated. Even the energetic riders, who saw improvement in the quarter, were just above 20.3 million, and 21.1 million the Street had expected. That mentioned, Lyft’s earnings per energetic rider beat expectations of $49.94 to $51.88.
Lyft’s inventory began to climb after Uber reported strong earnings last week, with after-hours buying and selling down 14.36% on Monday. The company’s shares have fallen 69.29 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Lyft closed the quarter with $143.7 million in money.
Looking ahead, Lyft expects revenue to be between $1.145 billion and $1.165 billion within the fourth quarter, with earnings progress reaching 9% and 11% quarter over quarter and 18% to 20% year over year. Has been. Part of that progress will come from higher earnings per rider, supported by Lyft’s current determination to increase service fees for riders. Paul noted that Lyft intends to reduce its working bills by about $20 million this fall versus Q3, partly as a result of discounts in electricity.
Lyft president John Zimmer noted that he was assured that Lyft would be able to achieve whatever macro setting it targets this fall.
“We Gone using the inside Two Main case One Is growth Case, Which one? has been assumed Market of booking Grow In low To Middle 20% year above year, And He Labor Market residence as Narrow as This in present is,” Zimmer noted during the Q3 earnings call. ,And Then, inside what We Call One recession Case where Market growth slow and We See operating leverage Through lower Driver The engagement And acquisition cost If Unemployment To rise So In Both case, We passed One very confident way To One billion Dollar, OneRa In Both case, Well continue To hub Our R&D Spend Feather Market innovation He helps improve cost Base of Business.”
