The downsizing of the business comes a few months after Bird laid off 23% of its staff in an attempt to become more financially self-sustainable and achieve profitability . . ", in the short-term the current macroeconomic conditions have created an environment that requires us to increase our level of financial discipline and make a clear distinction between markets where we see a near-term path to fully self-sustainable operations, and those which appear to be longer-term, riskier investments. This decision will allow us to intensify our focus towards cities and countries that have put the right regulatory framework and business environment in place. . ."
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Bird exits Germany, Sweden, Norway and 'several dozen' US, EMEA markets
Shared micromobility company Bird is exiting several markets across the world as it struggles to build an economically viable business, according to a regulatory filing.
Bird said it will “fully exit Germany, Sweden and Norway, as well as wind down operations in “several dozen additional, primarily small to mid-sized markets” across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to the company. Bird would not respond to requests for more information from TechCrunch, so it’s not clear which cities Bird will exit. However, the only Middle Eastern market Bird is in is Israel, and Bird doesn’t appear to be in any African countries.
The downsizing of the business comes a few months after Bird laid off 23% of its staff in an attempt to become more financially self-sustainable and achieve profitability. More importantly, Bird really needs to raise its share price before it gets delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. In June, Bird got a warning from the NYSE for trading too low. The company was given six months to get back to compliance, which means holding an average share price of at least $1 across 30 consecutive trading days and having a share value above $1 on the final trading day of that month. At the time, Bird was trading at $0.56. Today, Bird is trading at $0.37 after hours, which, to be fair, is up 1.01%.
In a blog post, Bird blamed a lot of the bumps on the road to profitability to cities that lack a “robust regulatory framework.” The company said it reviewed its portfolio of cities to weed out the ones without such a framework — the cities that have too much competition, an oversupply of vehicles and overcrowded streets.
“In the short-term the current macroeconomic conditions have created an environment that requires us to increase our level of financial discipline and make a clear distinction between markets where we see a near-term path to fully self-sustainable operations, and those which appear to be longer-term, riskier investments,” Bird wrote.
It’s not clear what this will mean for Bird’s army of fleet managers who will be affected by the change, and Bird did not respond in time to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Bird’s fleet managers are essentially contractors that pay up-front fees to manage fleets of scooters for Bird. They essentially pay to rent the scooters from Bird so they can deploy them and earn an income, but they are responsible for maintenance, storage and maintaining adequate insurance coverage. The program has been criticized for potentially luring inexperienced contract workers into debt for scooters they’ll never own."
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15 January 2019
Here In Mesa eScooters Are Risks & Threats to Public Safety
In spite of trying the "Raise Less of A Ruckus" approach to this issue of threats to public safety posed by dumping these
"environmentally-friendly" alternative modes of transportation,
The image to the right, taken outside Mesazona Market on Main Street clearly shows another eScooter left in the public right-of-way.
Readers will note in the link provided to Randazzo's report that it's all about money, business and tech. Randazzo also reports that unlike Lime and Bird [2 of the other venture-capital funded companies who dumped eScooters on the sidewalks, Uber reached out to the cities beforehand, rather than dropping the scooters off unannounced.
Apparently, officials inside City Hall said OK instead of calling a moratorium of more threats and risks to public safety that are posed by eScooters dumped or operated on the sidewalks here. Uber spokesman Walter Andrews, who is overseeing the Jump deployment in Arizona, realizes that eScooters belong on 'bike-friendly roads' NOT THE SIDEWALKS: "With great weather, popular local events, and bike-friendly roads, Scottsdale and Mesa are perfect cities for e-bikes and scooters, . . ."
Blogger Note: Every day I see users of eScooters operating them on the sidwalks, not on the streets at the same time there are clearly-marked warnings to WALK YOUR WHEELS.
Apparently there is no monitoring or enforcement of the regulations!
Yesterday yours truly witnessed a very ugly confrontation between an eScooter user barreling along on the sidewalk in front of Antique Plaza and a family man walking his baby carriage and two dogs when he point-black told the eScooter-user she was dangerous to his safety and posed a threat. It turned into a loud, shouting, profanity-infused and angry stand-off. When one of the owners of Antique Plaza stepped-out hearing the loud shouting, I asked him how many times he's witnessed eScooter users whizzing-by in violation of state state statutes. . . many times. Did he complain? Yes - to who? The Downtown Merchants Association.
Refocusing on our road to self-sustainability - Bird · Enjoy the ride
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We estimate that the volume of e-scooter rides has compounded 3.5x per year since 2017, proving that micromobility has an important role to play in redesigning urban mobility for a greener and more sustainable future. As the creator of this industry, it has been exciting to see micromobility become a transportation category in its own right, as an affordable and sustainable solution to street congestion that riders across the world use every day. However, in some of our markets, the conditions required to build an economically viable business are not yet met, and this is often due to the lack of a robust regulatory framework.
Earlier this year, we announced our plan to refocus the business on a path to financial self-sustainability. As part of this plan, we have conducted a thorough review of our portfolio of cities to determine whether or not they possess the regulatory framework necessary to facilitate the development of an innovative, competitive, self-sustaining micromobility industry. It has become clear that some markets lack such a framework, resulting in an oversupply of vehicles that has led to overcrowded streets and a high but frequently rotating number of competitors. All this invariably leads to sizable losses for operators who, as a result, cannot afford to invest and continue to make micromobility safer and more sustainable. Therefore, taking into account both the economic viability of markets and the regulatory environment, we have had to make the difficult decision to fully exit three European countries (Germany, Sweden, and Norway), and to wind down operations in several dozen additional, primarily small to mid-sized markets across the U.S. and EMEA. We are saddened by not being able to continue to support those customers who have come to rely on Bird electric scooters and bikes as their first choice for transportation. This difficult decision will unfortunately also have an impact on some of our employees and contractors in Europe, as well as on supporting teams in the U.S. We would like to thank all our employees and partners for their dedication and contributions to the business.
Given the strength of the long-term tailwinds for micromobility and the size of the addressable market, we are optimistic about the mid to long-term prospects of this industry to grow multiple fold. However, in the short-term the current macroeconomic conditions have created an environment that requires us to increase our level of financial discipline and make a clear distinction between markets where we see a near-term path to fully self-sustainable operations, and those which appear to be longer-term, riskier investments. This decision will allow us to intensify our focus towards cities and countries that have put the right regulatory framework and business environment in place in Europe, the U.S. and the rest of the world. Our commitment to these several hundred cities and the millions of riders whom we serve will only be reinforced.
We had to make a tough decision today in the interest of the future of the company. However, based on continued ridership growth and positive feedback from our city partners, we have never been more confident in the relevance and urgency of our mission – making cities more livable by reducing car usage, traffic, and carbon emission. We believe that focusing our business on a near-term path to self-sustainability best positions Bird to deliver on this mission in the long run.
Forward-Looking Statements
This blog post contains forward-looking statements. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the prospects of the micromobility industry, the impact of regulation and other conditions on its sustainability, and our plan to focus on cities that have put in place the right regulatory framework and business environment. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the important factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and Part II, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2022, and described from time to time in our future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this blog post are based upon information available to us as of the date of this blog post and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, these statements are inherently uncertain and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this blog post, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.
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