Lyft Inc. it recorded a smaller annual loss even when the coronavirus pandemic hit its business, signaling that the traveling company is pivoting towards profitability, despite the unprecedented crisis.
The San Francisco-based company said its 2020 revenue fell 35 percent to $ 2.4 billion. Its net loss for this year was $ 1.8 billion, compared to the previous year by $ 2.6 billion. Lyft’s bottom line was backed by aggressive cost cuts, which included workers, reduced wages and other operational changes, resulting in savings of $ 360 million last year, President John Zimmer said in an interview Tuesday.
“We used an incredibly tough year to prepare for long-term growth,” he said in an interview, reiterating that the losing company is on track to record a profitable quarter on an adjusted basis by the end of this year.
Lyft’s stock doubled in early November, driven by the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine and a major regulatory victory in the company’s home state that month. The shares increased on Tuesday by over 10% when trading after business hours, stimulated by the company’s results throughout the year.
Lyft posted fourth-quarter revenue of $ 570 million, slightly higher than in the last three months, but down 44% from a year earlier. The company said an increase in Covid-19 cases in key markets and new blockages affected travel demand in the second half of the quarter. The net loss for the period was $ 458.2 million, compared to $ 356 million a year earlier.