WEBVTT - Lyft CEO David Risher Talks Record Rides

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news shares of Lyft.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's check in on them because the company reported earnings

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<v Speaker 2>after the bell yesterday, including record number of rides completed.

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<v Speaker 2>We're currently up three and a half percent. Lift CEO

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<v Speaker 2>David Richard joins us to talk us through the results.

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<v Speaker 2>That for some there was a bit of something for everyone.

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<v Speaker 2>The revenue number behave perhaps a little bit shy of expectations.

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<v Speaker 2>But the sheer number of people riding with you at

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<v Speaker 2>a record what's driving that?

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<v Speaker 1>David, Yeah, I mean I love that fact, the number

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<v Speaker 1>of the sheer number of people riding with us, because

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<v Speaker 1>it shows that we're doing something right.

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<v Speaker 2>Right.

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<v Speaker 1>So I've been saying for a long time customer obsession

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<v Speaker 1>drives profitable growth. We're now profitable. We're growing, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>as is our ninth consecutive quarter of double digit growth.

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<v Speaker 1>And in terms of customer adoption, you know, we've we've

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<v Speaker 1>never had more riders and drivers on the platform. So

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<v Speaker 1>you know what's driving it. It's innovations like Lift Silver,

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<v Speaker 1>It's partnerships like our Door Down partnership. We just announced

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<v Speaker 1>a new partnership with the United A lot of the

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<v Speaker 1>sort of ecosystem work we're doing is really helping us

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<v Speaker 1>grow faster than ever.

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<v Speaker 2>And let's talk about partnerships when it comes to autonomous

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<v Speaker 2>because that's where the future that the puck is moving.

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<v Speaker 2>How are you ensuring that you're moving with it and

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<v Speaker 2>taking on what seems to be future competition coming from

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know, the likes of Weymo, but also even

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<v Speaker 2>a Tesla.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know what, I don't think of it as

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<v Speaker 1>future competition. I mean, of course there'll be competitive skirmishes,

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<v Speaker 1>but big picture, as self driving cars come onto our platform,

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to expand the marketplace. And we can see

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<v Speaker 1>that already even in the cities where self driving cars

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<v Speaker 1>are operating in the US right now, we're seeing something

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<v Speaker 1>like five x the growth of cities where they're not operating.

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<v Speaker 1>So because what they're safe, they're interesting, they're kind of

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<v Speaker 1>you know, they're novel, they're reliable. In terms of partnerships,

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<v Speaker 1>we have a couple of great partnerships. We have one

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<v Speaker 1>with main Mobility, which launches officially this summer in Atlanta,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can take a self driving car if you

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<v Speaker 1>live in Atlanta starting in a little over a month,

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<v Speaker 1>we hope, and then big picture. We just signed a

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<v Speaker 1>big agreement with Baidu, who is one of the world's

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<v Speaker 1>large just probably the world's largest self driving car company,

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<v Speaker 1>to expand into Europe, into couple countries in Europe. So

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of action going on the self driving world.

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<v Speaker 1>Obviously still very early, but we see, you know, huge

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity for us in the future.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Plan Germany UK twenty twenty six, David, with regulatory approvals.

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<v Speaker 2>Speak to that international growth that you've really brought to

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<v Speaker 2>bear of late. How much is that a winning formula

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<v Speaker 2>for revenue for profitability?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, for both, I think, and actually for resilience too.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, one of the things that I've seen over

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<v Speaker 1>the last two and a half year since I've been

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<v Speaker 1>in this job is being so focused on North America

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<v Speaker 1>has been great because it's allowed us to really innovate

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<v Speaker 1>and drive the industry forward. But now that we're in

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<v Speaker 1>a very strong position, we can afford to and frankly,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, sort of our customers want us to be

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<v Speaker 1>a more global company. So we just acquired a company

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<v Speaker 1>called free Now in Europe. It's a taxi focused aggregator.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the taxis in Europe, of course, you know

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<v Speaker 1>this well, are sort of a high end product than

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<v Speaker 1>people might think in the United States, and so it

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<v Speaker 1>will allow us to have a footprint across Europe. Then,

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<v Speaker 1>when we tie up back to your earlier question about

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<v Speaker 1>self driving, as self driving comes to Europe and Europe

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<v Speaker 1>is a little bit behind the United States, the relationship

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<v Speaker 1>that we now have with regulators and of course with

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<v Speaker 1>millions of customers is really going to help us form

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<v Speaker 1>a platform that we can build on to bring self

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<v Speaker 1>driving cars to the UK and Germany and hopefully beyond.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, So when you're leaning into some of these expansions

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<v Speaker 2>more broadly, will there be more m and A to

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<v Speaker 2>play here? You've already done it in Europe. I know

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<v Speaker 2>you've got to integrate, but would you look further afield too.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe, you know, you never say never about this sort

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<v Speaker 1>of thing, you know, I think we're in a very

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<v Speaker 1>strong position now to do this kind of work. But

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<v Speaker 1>as you say, the first order business for us is

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<v Speaker 1>that integration work. And we just closed the free Now

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<v Speaker 1>deal last week. I was actually in Barcelona the week

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<v Speaker 1>before with a team there. They're so excited to get

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<v Speaker 1>started and already now, if you open the free now

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<v Speaker 1>app in Europe, you'll get a prompt that says, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we're a partnership with Lyft and and vice versa. If

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<v Speaker 1>you open the lift app in Europe, maybe more importantly,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll be directed to go over to free. Now we're

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<v Speaker 1>just beginning that integration. I think there's a lot more

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<v Speaker 1>work to do there before we really think about additional acquisitions.

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<v Speaker 2>And David, you've got such sort of a bird's eye

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<v Speaker 2>perspective on the consumer. Really at this moment, how resilient

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<v Speaker 2>is that consumer, particularly here in the US people trying

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<v Speaker 2>to read the tea.

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<v Speaker 1>Least I understand. You know, every single day people sort

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<v Speaker 1>of look deep in the teacup and try to figure

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<v Speaker 1>out what's going on. All I can say is, if

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<v Speaker 1>you're looking for weakness, look elsewhere. We're not seeing it.

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<v Speaker 1>We're seeing record rides, you know, double digit growth, even airports,

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<v Speaker 1>which people often look at as sort of a leading indicator.

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<v Speaker 1>Now it's true, I think TSA volumes are moderating a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit, but we're growing faster than TSA volumes are

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<v Speaker 1>and we've grown airports now quarter over quarter and year

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<v Speaker 1>over years. So it's such an interesting thing. I know

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<v Speaker 1>people are sort of desperate to find, you know, sort

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<v Speaker 1>of the cloud and the silver lining, but at least

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<v Speaker 1>from our perspective, we're not seeing it.

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<v Speaker 2>If CEO David Risher, great to have you back on

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<v Speaker 2>the show, Stay well, Thank you.