With COVID-19 forcing shutdowns of restaurants,
bars and retail establishments as well as widespread work-from-home orders in cities
across the United States in recent months, Lyft says it saw a dramatic drop in
usage of its ride-share service.
Ridership was down 60% in the second quarter, from 21,807 in
2019 to just 8,688 this year. Revenue was similarly down, dropping 61% to
$339.3 million from $867.3 million in the same period last year.
However, in a statement announcing the quarterly financial
results, the company says its metrics began improving in July.
“While ride-share rides in the quarter were down
significantly year-over-year, we are encouraged by the recovery trends we are
beginning to see, with monthly ride-share rides in July up 78% compared to
April,” says Logan Green, co-founder and CEO of Lyft.
“Lyft’s second quarter results reflect an operating
environment that was not only challenging for our core ride-sharing business,
but also for our valued riders and drivers and the communities we serve. Our
performance reinforces our belief that Lyft is taking on the critical work
necessary to emerge from the crisis as a stronger company.”
Adjusted EBITDA loss for the second quarter was $280.3
million, an increase of $76.2 million compared to adjusted EBITDA loss of
$204.1 million in the second quarter of 2019, but an improvement of $44.7 million
compared to the company’s prior outlook for adjusted EBITDA loss of $325
million for the second quarter of 2020.
"In Q2, we successfully limited our adjusted EBITDA
loss, outperforming the outlook we shared on our Q1 call by more than 20%. We
continued to take aggressive actions to reduce costs and increase our
underlying unit economics in the quarter, which has put Lyft on track to
achieve $300 million of annualized fixed cost savings by the end of the year,”
says Lyft CFO Brian Roberts.
“These steps position the company to achieve adjusted EBITDA
profitability with 20 to 25% fewer rides than originally contemplated in our
fourth quarter 2021 target.”
In late July, Lyft announced a partnership with SIXT Rent a
Car to expand its Lyft Rentals program beyond a pilot that launched in California
last year. The partnership with SIXT is launching in Seattle, Las Vegas and
Miami this month and expanding to all cities within SIXT’s U.S. network in the
coming months. Users reserve a rental car in the Lyft app and 30 minutes before
pickup they can select the exact make and model of the car they will rent.
Uber reported its second quarter financial results August 6,
with gross bookings down 35% year-over-year to $10.2 billion and revenue down
29%.
For Uber, a bright spot is its delivery division, which saw
bookings grow 113% compared to the second quarter of 2019, while in the
mobility division bookings were down 73%.