Lyft, Inc.
Leadership History
3 leaders · 2012 to present
David Risher is the CEO of Lyft, in the role since 2023. The first chief executive was Logan Green, from 2012.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Risher | Chief Executive Officer | 2023 | Present | 3 |
| Logan Green | Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer | 2012 | 2023 | 11 |
| John Zimmer | Co-founder and President | 2012 | 2023 | 11 |
Lyft is a public ride-hailing company headquartered at 185 Berry Street in San Francisco. For most of its history it was a North America-only rideshare challenger to Uber, without a large food delivery business. Since 2025 it has described itself as a global mobility platform, adding European taxi app FREENOW and chauffeur firm TBR. It reported 946 million rides in 2025 and more than 30 million active riders by mid-2026. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Lyft runs a two-sided marketplace. It does not own most of the cars on its network and treats drivers as independent contractors, a classification that remains contested. Riders pay a fare; Lyft passes most of it to the driver and keeps the remainder as revenue to cover insurance, payment processing, technology, and overhead. In FY2025 revenue of $6.3B equaled roughly 34% of $18.5B in gross bookings. Smaller lines include bikeshare and scooter systems run under city contracts, Lyft Business and healthcare rides, Express Drive vehicle rentals through its Flexdrive subsidiary, Lyft Media advertising, and, since 2025, European taxi bookings through FREENOW and chauffeur services through TBR Global Chauffeuring.
Chief Executive Officer
2023 – Present
3 years (current)
Cut about 26% of staff in 2023, closed the price gap with Uber, introduced the 70% driver earnings commitment and Women+ Connect, bought FREENOW and TBR, and chose AV partnerships such as Waymo and Baidu over in-house development.
Under Risher, Lyft went from a $340M net loss in 2023 to more than $1.1B of free cash flow in 2025.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
2012 – 2023
11 years
Co-founded Lyft in 2012 and led it until David Risher was named CEO in 2023.
Co-founder and President
2012 – 2023
11 years
Co-founded Lyft and served as president, leading brand and policy work.
These officers report to the chief executive and are not part of the CEO timeline above.
Lyft faces intense competition from Uber, insurance cost volatility, driver supply constraints, regulatory pressure around worker classification, airport and city fee exposure, autonomous vehicle uncertainty, and lower global diversification than Uber.
Lyft has been led by two CEOs: co-founder Logan Green, who served as CEO from inception in 2012 until April 2023, and David Risher, who has served as Chief Executive Officer since April 2023.
Logan Green (CEO) and John Zimmer (President) grew Lyft from a Silicon Valley carpooling startup into a publicly traded Fortune 500 company, pioneering peer-to-peer ridesharing, acquiring Motivate bikeshare, expanding nationwide, and raising over $4.9 billion in private and public capital.
David Risher was an early Amazon executive who led its U.S. retail business in the late 1990s, worked at Microsoft, and co-founded the literacy nonprofit Worldreader. He joined Lyft's board in 2021 before becoming CEO in 2023.
Upon taking leadership in April 2023, Risher immediately ended full remote work by bringing corporate staff back to offices, cut corporate headcount by 26%, lowered ride prices to eliminate Uber's price gap, introduced Women+ Connect, and established the 70% Driver Earnings Commitment.
Logan Green and John Zimmer stepped down from management in 2023. They retain extra voting power through Class B shares.
Erin Brewer is Lyft's Chief Financial Officer, appointed in 2023.
Much of Risher's pay is in stock awards tied to Lyft's share price, so his compensation rises or falls with shareholder returns. Details are in Lyft's annual proxy statement.
Risher pushed a customer-obsessed, simpler culture and has driven for Lyft himself to understand the driver experience.
David Risher serves as CEO. He was appointed in 2023, replacing the original founders (Logan Green and John Zimmer), who stepped down to the board. Risher is a highly experienced former Amazon executive. His appointment signaled a massive shift from "founder-led growth" to "ruthless corporate efficiency," immediately laying off massive portions of the workforce to aggressively defend Lyft's market share against Uber.
Compare executive leadership tenures and strategic transitions
Explore Lyft
Core profile pages, founders and related research hubs for this company.