Lyft's Future Plans: Growth Strategies and Challenges

Lyft's strong performance and focus on long-term growth overshadow short-term adjustments, with features like Price Lock and advertising driving profitability and customer-centric growth.

### Lyft CEO Discusses Q2 Earnings, Future Plans, and Competition
* 📊  Lyft reported its **first profitable quarter ever**, with revenue growing **40% year-on-year** and free cash flow of **$256 million**.
* 🚗  Despite strong performance, the stock is down due to **"incredibly small" adjustments in future guidance**.
* 💰  The company is focused on **long-term growth**, with a "**very disciplined and customer-obsessed**" approach.
* 🔒  Lyft introduced "**price lock**," a feature allowing riders to **lock in consistent prices** for daily commutes.
* 📈  Advertising is seen as a growth driver, leveraging Lyft's **first-party data from 2 million daily rides**.
* 🚘  CEO remains optimistic about the impact of electric vehicles on Lyft, believing they will be "**great**" for the company.
* 🤖  When asked about Tesla's robo-taxi plans, the CEO emphasized **Lyft's strength in commercializing expensive assets** and expressed **confidence in the company's position in the market**.

Bookings.
The outlook missed estimates. So street expectations.
The stock is down significantly. What is happening right now?
We've left the environment that Lyft finds itself in.
Yeah. So, hey, it's good to see you again.
I mean, look, it's to me, it's a little curious, right?
And this is sort of the way the world works sometimes.
So we just had our first profitable quarter ever, which is an enormous
accomplishment thanks to a lot of work for the team.
Revenue grew 40% year on year bookings and rides around mid-teens, 17%, $256
million of free cash. So and just and service levels that are
fantastic, fastest pickups we've had in a long time.
Fastest are more drivers than we've ever had.
So all those things are incredibly strong, indicate a strong marketplace.
And and we reiterated our full year guidance and our multiyear guidance as
well.

Yes, mid-teen growth.
So all those things were good. I think what people are looking at is
they're seeing what I would consider to be incredibly small, you know, sort of
kind of adjustment around what we've said about the future, the next quarter,
or the next couple of quarters. And this, to me, sort of signifies, you
know, sort of the world we live in. Like the things that we think about are
160 billion rides in the US in total use of cars.
And we are little by little, you know, in a very, very disciplined and customer-
obsessed way, are growing our business. You know, I think Wall Street sometimes
looks at short-term things and gets a little bit overly focused on that.
I'm thinking about the long term and super excited about the prospects.
David There is some. David Russia strategy and plans that I
see playing out like price lock. Yeah, a paid feature that's going to
have an impact maybe on the top and

bottom line.
But why, why is that the plan for you? Yeah.
So price lock is a way for riders to lock in a price, just like it sounds
like on the same route and same time every day.
It's really in first meant for commuters, and it's available today.
By the way, I encourage everyone to check it out.
It's kind of a soft launch. And the idea is it takes away that what
I think is one of the most hated features of all ride share, which is,
which is surge pricing. Right.
Sort of trying to get rid of it. Can never get rid of it completely, but we
can certainly give riders a way to basically pay a small subscription fee
and lock themselves into a consistent price.
I think it's great, and I think it's the sort of thing that's going to grow the
business in the long term. Of course, it's an investment, right?
And you always, you know, invest in new

features that you have a lot of conviction around. But this, again, is our customer obsession, is what drives profitable growth. And again, we're profitable now, and we think there's going to be a great growth driver for us. Advertising is a battleground as well. You know, I have so familiar with the lift app, but why is advertising the way to go and what with who, with what? Right. You think about parallel industries. Yeah. So, you know, think about, you know, of course, let's let's zoom way out for a second. Since the history of advertising, you know, brands have tried to come up with new ways to talk to their consumers. Right. And 100 years ago, maybe it was billboards then maybe it was radio ads, then maybe TV ads. Obviously, more recently, Internet advertising, we see this kind of mobile advertising, literally advertising that comes to you in the car where you're

going as an incredibly important
effectively a sector that we're really going to help build out.
And because if you think about it and reflecting on some of the earlier
conversations you're having around Reddit, for example, we have an enormous
amount of first-party data, right? 2 million rides a day, every one of them
going to a 7-Eleven or a Starbucks or a, you know, whatever it might be.
And that's first-party data. That's very indicative of what it is
that riders want to do. And so our media business has grown
significantly. We're up significantly year on year, and
we're really optimistic that it's going to be a whole new form of advertising, a
media that will go super great. David, When I reported that Tesla was
delaying its robo-taxi event to October, the shares of your company jumped in
that session. The Vision is a proprietary app from
Tesla for ride-hailing, but a fleet of

cars that drive themselves Teslas.
Your stock went up on the basis that everyone was like, okay, the competition
from test is not yet coming. Just your latest thinking on that,
please. Yeah, I look, I think EVs are going to
be great for left. I really do.
And I think it's because we're going to be the best way to commercialize what is
a very, very expensive asset. Different companies will try different
things, but I think largely you'll have a lot of OEMs doing a lot in the RV
space and wanting them on our platform because of, you know, millions of rides.
All the technology we have to incorporate cars in our platform and so
forth. I don't want to comment on Tesla.
I don't know. You know, we'll see kind of how that
goes. But I do think that creating your own
thing, a kind of close network, is a it's a it's a fraught strategy and maybe
a maybe a different strategy would be to

figure out a way to get your cars that
you've built in your technology. You know, as broadly available as to as many
as possible.

Lyft CEO on Shares Tanking: 'Focused on Long Term'

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Bloomberg Technology

Lyft's Financial Performance and Future Outlook

Lyft's stock is significantly down despite a strong financial performance, including the first profitable quarter ever and strong revenue growth.

The company's outlook for the next quarter or two is causing concern for investors, but Lyft is focused on long-term growth.

Lyft is also implementing new strategies, such as price lock, to impact its future performance.

The Introduction of Price Lock for Ride-Share

Price lock is a new feature that allows riders to secure a consistent price for their daily commute, aiming to eliminate surge pricing.

It is designed primarily for commuters and is now available for use, offering a way to avoid unpredictable fare increases.

The company sees this feature as a long-term investment for profitable growth, while also focusing on advertising as a means to engage consumers and drive the business forward.

The Impact of EVs on Ride-Hailing Businesses

The ride-hailing company is optimistic about the growth of its media business, leveraging first-party data from 2 million daily rides.

The company's stock rose after Tesla delayed its robo-taxi event, indicating the market's confidence in the company's position against competition.

The company believes that electric vehicles (EVs) will be a great opportunity to commercialize their expensive asset and anticipates a high demand for EVs on their platform.

Increasing Access to Your Tech-Built Cars

Collaborate with dealerships to expand the availability of your tech-built cars.

Consider developing more affordable models to reach a wider customer base.

Explore the option of offering leasing or subscription services to make the cars more accessible to a larger audience.