Lyft Inc. is bringing in a new chief executive and removing its co-founders from running the ride-hailing company on a day-to-day basis, sending shares more than 3% higher in after-hours trading Monday. Lyft
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announced after markets closed Monday that board member David Risher will take over as CEO, replacing co-founder Logan Green. Green and Lyft’s other active co-founder — John Zimmer, who had been serving as president — will remain on the company’s board as chair and vice chair respectively, but not actively participate in running the company.
“I’m honored and humbled that Logan, John, and the board have trusted me to lead Lyft,” Risher said in a letter to employees. “And I’ll start by saying this: I want Lyft to lead, and I’m thrilled to lead Lyft.” Risher worked at Microsoft Corp.
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in the 1990s before becoming employee No. 37 at Amazon.com Inc.
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according to Lyft’s announcement, which noted that he received a permanent thank you on the Amazon website from founder and former chief executive Jeff Bezos upon his departure in 2002. For the past 13 years, he has been in charge of a nonprofit focused on childhood literacy called Worldreader. “Across all three organizations, I learned of the power of leading with purpose,” he wrote to employees. “Each organization derived tremendous energy through a singleness of purpose. It’s what attracted and retained great people, allowed us to make focused decisions and inspired our customers.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Risher — who has been on Lyft’s board since 2021 — admitted that Lyft faces competitive issues, seemingly referencing Uber Technologies Inc.
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He mentioned “a very aggressive — very aggressive — competitor,” while adding, “I think being a strong No. 2 is a good place to be.” Lyft shares lost more than a third of their value in a single session in February after Green and Zimmer provided a forecast that missed expectations in what one analyst called “a debacle for the ages.” Monday’s announcement reiterated Lyft’s first-quarter guidance and said Lyft expects to report quarterly results in early May. D.A. Davidson analyst Tom White told MarketWatch on Monday afternoon that the change at the top could be “a potential model positive.” …