Lyft’s business is nearly half of what it was before the pandemic

Lyft’s business has been slashed nearly in half due to the ongoing pandemic.

The company reported Tuesday that its revenue fell 48% compared to a year ago in the third quarter, to just below $500 million. Active riders fell 44% over the same period, to 12.5 million riders.

Lyft’s latest earnings report shows the ongoing negative impact of the pandemic on its business — but it also illustrates how it has rebounded since the second quarter of this year, when ridership plummeted to 8.7 million riders.

“Our Q3 revenue grew by 47% quarter-over-quarter driven by a meaningful recovery in Active Riders,” said Lyft’s chief financial officer, Brian Roberts, in a statement accompanying its financial results.

Roberts said the company remains focused on achieving profitability, excluding certain costs, by the fourth quarter of 2021 “even with a slower recovery.” Rival Uber has also set its sights on a measure of profitability sometime next year.

The earnings come one week after a political win in Lyft’s home state of California, where voters passed a ballot measure that defends its business model, allowing Lyft and its gig economy peers to continue treating workers as independent contractors in the state, rather than employees.

Lyft’s chief policy officer, Anthony Foxx, said in a statement last Wednesday that the company “stands ready to work with all interested parties, including drivers, labor unions and policymakers, to build a stronger safety net for gig workers in the US.”

Since going public last year, Lyft and Uber have struggled to win over investors who are concerned about their histories of steep losses and how they might eventually be able to turn a profit. Both companies went through layoffs prior to the pandemic as well as significant staff reductions spurred by the decline in ride volume once it took hold.

Lyft reported that it lost $459.5 million in the third quarter, compared to $463.5 million one year prior.

Lyft has attempted to tap its drivers for delivery needs, an area it had not previously embraced, as ridership declined. Uber, by comparison, has its Eats delivery platform, a bright spot for the company in the midst of the pandemic.

On a call to discuss its earnings results, Lyft made clear that it intends to further explore the delivery space. Lyft cofounder and president John Zimmer said that while the company is not interested in launching its own consumer delivery platform, such as Eats, it sees further opportunities to help partners move their goods through logistics and fulfillment.