Lyft’s new CEO tackles a job requiring some heavy lifting

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Even before he joined Lyft’s board in 2021, David Risher had taken hundreds of trips as a passenger so he felt like he knew a lot about the ride-hailing service. But he never expected to be thrust into the driver’s seat at a time when Lyft was running like a jalopy. After shaking off his initial shock at being asked to replace Lyft’s co-founder as CEO, Risher quickly began to shake up a company sinking into a morass of mounting losses. Shortly taking the job, Risher laid out a plan to lay off nearly 1,100 employees and plow the savings into lower fares to better compete against Uber.