U.S. car rental company to lay off workers amid pressure for profitability

Source: Xinhua | 2020-01-09

San Francisco car rental company Getaround will cut a quarter of its workforce in the new year in an effort to reduce rising costs and seek profitability growth, its CEO Sam Zaid said Tuesday.

Zaid called the layoffs an "unfortunate" decision that will mainly impact its "vehicle-related operations" in North America.

He told a U.S. media outlet that his company will cut about a quarter of its total workforce, or 150 employees, who are handling day-to-day interactions between car owners and renters.

Getaround, which was considered one of the top valued online or peer-to-peer car sharing companies in Silicon Valley, was one of the latest SoftBank-backed startups to announce job eliminations while struggling for profit growth.

Zaid said his company is trying to strike an important balance between growth and efficiency, in addition to bringing down increasing costs.

San Francisco-based Getaround is a startup financed by SoftBank's Vision Fund, the world's largest tech investor. It raised 300 million U.S. dollars from investors led by SoftBank in 2018.