Bird, the pioneer of the electric scooter sector, laid off 4% to 5% of its full-time staff on Thursday, in an effort to contain costs. About 40 employees of the roughly 900-person company were let go.
The layoffs represent a comedown for a startup that flew to a $2 billion valuation last year within nine months of launching. The company helped spark an investment frenzy in electric scooters, but found itself in recent months trailing rival Lime in ridership in the U.S. and internationally.
