We started with a crazy idea, met with disbelief & doubt: Lyft’s cofounder John Zimmer says after stepping down

Board member David Risher will be taking on the top role. Risher, a former Amazon and Microsoft executive, ran non-profit Worldreader for over a decade before joining Lyft’s board in 2021.

In a letter to Lyft employees, Zimmer said, “As pandemic isolation and political polarisation have exposed cracks in our greater sense of community, our mission to bring people together has become even more important.”

“We started with a crazy idea that we would put pink moustaches on regular people’s cars and create a community movement. We were met with disbelief and doubt. But thanks to all of you, we did it,” he added.

Thanking his cofounder and CEO Logan Green, Zimmer said, “none of this would be possible without your strong and steady leadership, and your beautiful mind for innovation.”

In his letter to the team, Green said that building Lyft has been “one of the most fulfilling experiences” of his life.

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“This was an adventure of a lifetime, and I’ve loved every minute of it — the sweetness of the highs, and the pain of the lows that make you appreciate the next win that much more. I’m eternally grateful to this team,” Green wrote.The change of guard at Lyft which competes with bigger rival Uber, comes after a weak quarterly forecast worsened concerns that profits would get squeezed by price cuts undertaken to keep up with bigger rival Uber – which boasts better pricing power, a global presence and a food delivery business.

The company, which was founded in 2012 and went public in 2019, is yet to report an annual profit but has trimmed losses over the years despite its business coming to a halt during the pandemic.