Lyft Inc. has laid off 982 employees, or 17% of its total workforce, and furloughed an additional 288 in response to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on its business.

The company disclosed the move in a regulatory filing today. The news follows a report that executives at Lyft’s chief rival, Uber Technologies Inc., are in discussions to let go about a fifth of its workforce.

In Lyft’s case, the restructuring is being paired with pay reductions. The company said in the filing that members of its board have agreed to forgo 30% of their cash compensation for the second quarter, while the executive leadership is taking a similar 30% cut. Lyft is also reducing the base salary of other employees for 12 weeks.

“It is now clear that the Covid-19 crisis is going to have broad-reaching implications for the economy, which impacts our business,” Lyft Chief Executive Officer Logan Green said in a statement. “We have therefore made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team. Our guiding principle for decision-making right now is to ensure we emerge from the crisis in the strongest possible position to achieve the company’s mission.”

Lyft’s core ride-hailing business has experienced a 75% drop in demand, according to a report published by The Information this week. The company’s revenue after paying drivers is now believed to be under $150 million per month, versus $260 million per month during the first quarter.

In an attempt to make up for some of the lost demand, Lyft and rival Uber are refocusing on the delivery market. Lyft recently launched a program called Essential Deliveries that helps select partners such as government organizations ship essential items. Uber, in turn, recently launched two new logistics services of its own: one aimed at businesses and another that allows consumers to send items to one another.

Uber has expressed optimism about its ability to weather the pandemic. In March, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the company had about $10 billion of unrestricted cash as of the end of February and estimated that even if revenues were to drop 80% this year, it would still close 2020 with about $4 billion left in the bank.

Photo: Lyft