Lyft Expands in Europe, Diversifies by Acquiring FREENOW

SAN FRANCISCO & HAMBURG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 16, 2025--

Lyft, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYFT), a leading ride hailing marketplace, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire FREENOW, a leading European multi-mobility app with a taxi offering at its core, from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for approximately €175 million or $197 million* in cash. FREENOW will continue operating as it does today, with its talented leadership team and employees in place to drive growth across 9 countries and over 150 cities across Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and Austria. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250415370847/en/

Lyft found in FREENOW a partner to immediately fuel its growth strategy, unlock potential for partners, and level up the experience for drivers and riders alike. This marks Lyft’s most significant expansion outside North America, nearly doubling Lyft’s total addressable market to more than 300 billion personal vehicle trips per year, increasing annualized Gross Bookings by approximately €1 billion, diversifying revenue streams, and supporting Lyft’s multi-year targets.

“We’re on an ambitious path to build the best, most customer-obsessed mobility platform in the world, and entering Europe is an important step in our growth journey,” said David Risher, CEO of Lyft. “We found the perfect partner in FREENOW and can learn a lot from the team. FREENOW's local-first approach mirrors Lyft's values and embodies our purpose — to serve and connect.”

FREENOW brings market-leading European taxi expertise, fleet technology and strong relationships with regulators, unions and taxi fleet operators in every market. Lyft brings best-in-class marketplace expertise and customer-obsessed features. The business models are complementary and together will serve over 50 million combined annual riders, with plans to deliver a better product experience, improve service levels, strengthen fleet management capabilities, and bring greater global opportunities to existing and potential partners.

In Europe, the taxi aggregation business is strong and growing. Approximately 50% of taxi bookings in Europe still happen offline, but customers are hungry for more online bookings. FREENOW is primed to capitalize on that opportunity. FREENOW is the leading taxi platform in several major European cities, including Dublin, London, Athens, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, and Hamburg, with luxury vehicles making up a significant portion of its fleet. Taxis accounted for approximately 90% of FREENOW’s Gross Bookings in 2024 and will continue to be the backbone of FREENOW’s business.

“Joining forces with Lyft is a powerful step forward for FREENOW and marks the beginning of an ambitious new phase—one where we strengthen our role as a leading force in European mobility,” said FREENOW CEO Thomas Zimmermann. “Lyft's strong, customer-first track record aligns perfectly with our deep roots in the taxi industry, and together we will push boundaries and raise expectations for fleet owners, taxi drivers, and riders across the continent. We stand with the industry—not above it—and remain proud partners of the community. This collaboration is about combining our strengths, learning from each other, and scaling what works best. We sincerely thank our former shareholders for their trust and enduring partnership throughout the years.”

The strategic acquisition is aligned with Lyft’s disciplined capital allocation strategy of investing in attractive growth opportunities with a customer-obsessed bias. The announcement follows a record-breaking year in 2024 for Lyft, with industry-leading service levels in Q4, record Gross Bookings, GAAP profitability, and record cash flow generation.

What’s next

While there will be no immediate changes to FREENOW’s customer experience, over time, new benefits will be made available to FREENOW drivers and riders. For drivers in many markets, that may look like more transparency around their earnings such as when to expect incentives and real-time information on the best times to drive. For riders, that may look like more consistent pricing, faster matching, and new features and modes. The companies will also focus on integration for riders to seamlessly use either app across the Atlantic, whether they’re in North America or Europe.

*$197 million is based on the EUR/USD foreign exchange rate on the date of signing.

Advisors

Guggenheim Securities, LLC is acting as financial advisor to Lyft, and Baker McKenzie is acting as its legal advisor. Lazard is acting as financial advisor to BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility, and DLA Piper is acting as their legal advisor.

Investor Presentation

The companies have published a presentation to provide an overview of the transaction, which is available on Lyft’s investor relations website at https://investor.lyft.com.

Lyft will hold an investor call in May when it reports Q1 2025 earnings.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Lyft's future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,” “going to,” "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern Lyft's expectations, strategy, priorities, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the acquisition of FREENOW including, the timing of the closing of the transaction, and the expected benefits of the transaction, including the timing of those benefits, the financial impact of the transaction on Lyft, the impact of the transaction on Lyft’s addressable market, partnership opportunities, the future operations of FREENOW and plans and expectations for the combined company. Lyft’s expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including risks related to the macroeconomic environment, risks and uncertainties related to the pending acquisition of FREENOW, including the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, the risk that such approvals may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect Lyft or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction, or the failure to satisfy any of the closing conditions to the proposed transaction on a timely basis or at all; costs, expenses or difficulties related to the acquisition of FREENOW; failure to realize the expected benefits and synergies of the proposed transaction in the expected timeframes or at all; and change in the regulatory environment that impact Lyft. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Lyft's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the full fiscal year 2024 that was filed with the SEC on February 14, 2025. The forward-looking statements in this release are based on information available to Lyft as of the date hereof, and Lyft disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. This press release discusses “customers”. For rideshare, there are two customers in every car - the driver is Lyft’s customer, and the rider is the driver’s customer. We care about both.

About Lyft

Whether it’s an everyday commute or a journey that changes everything, Lyft is driven by our purpose: to serve and connect. In 2012, Lyft was founded as one of the first ridesharing communities in the United States, and is available today in the United States and Canada. Now, millions of drivers have chosen to earn on billions of rides. Lyft offers rideshare, bikes, and scooters all in one app — for a more connected world, with transportation for everyone.

About FREENOW

FREENOW is Europe’s multi-mobility app with taxi offering at its core, available in 9 European countries and over 150 cities. FREENOW users can access various mobility services within a single app, including taxis, private hire vehicles (PHV) or ridesharing, carsharing, car rental, eScooters, eBikes, eMopeds and public transport.

Lyft Expands in Europe, Diversifies by Acquiring FREENOW

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A small town in rural Nebraska is losing its biggest employer, a Tyson Foods' beef plant, which will be laying off 3,200 workers next month in a town of around 11,000 people.

Lexington, Nebraska, is expected to lose hundreds of families who will be forced to move away in search of other work. The exodus will likely cause spinoff layoffs in the town's shops, restaurants and schools.

The impact on the town and workers will be “close to the poster child for hard times,” said Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Indiana’s Ball State University.

All told, the job losses are expected to reach 7,000, largely in Lexington and the surrounding counties, according to a report from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, released Monday. Tyson employees alone will lose an estimated $241 million in pay and benefits annually.

It threatens to unravel a town where the American Dream was still attainable, where immigrants who didn’t speak English and never graduated high school bought homes, raised children in a safe community and sent them to college.

Tyson says it’s closing the plant to “right-size” its beef business after a historically low cattle herd in the U.S. and the company’s expected loss of $600 million on beef production next fiscal year.

Tyson workers, business owners and town leaders spoke to The Associated Press for a report on the plant’s closure.

Here are some takeaways.

Lexington sits near the dead center of the United States, surrounded by fields of corn, grain silos and cattle.

The plant opened in 1990 and was bought by Tyson a decade later, attracting thousands of workers who labor on cleaning crews and forklifts, on the slaughter floor and trimming cuts of meat.

The town nearly doubled in population and flourished with leafy neighborhoods, recreation centers, a one-screen movie theater and a good school system. Nearly half the students in Lexington have a parent who works at the Tyson plant, school officials estimated.

Many Tyson workers have lived in Lexington for decades, building community at the plant and in the town's many churches, including Francisco Antonio.

The 52-year-old father of four said he’ll stay a few months in Lexington and look for work, though “now there’s no future.” He took off his glasses, paused, apologized and tried to explain his emotions.

“It’s home mostly, not the job,” he said, replacing his glasses with an embarrassed smile.

Thousands of Tyson workers have mortgages, car and insurance payments, property taxes or tuition costs that they won’t have an income to pay.

For many, finding another job isn't easy, particularly older workers who don’t speak English, haven’t graduated high school and aren’t computer savvy. The last application some filled out was decades ago.

“We know only working in meat for Tyson, we don’t have any other experience,” said Arab Adan. The Kenyan immigrant sat in his car with his two energetic sons, who asked him a question he has no answer to: “Which state are we gonna go, daddy?”

“They only want young people now,” said Juventino Castro, who’s worked at Tyson for a quarter-century. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the time I have left.”

Lupe Ceja has saved a little money, but it won’t last long. Luz Alvidrez has a cleaning gig that will sustain her for awhile. Others might return to Mexico for a time. Nobody has a clear plan.

“It won’t be easy,” said Fernando Sanchez, a Tyson worker for 35 years who sat with his wife. “We started here from scratch and it’s time to start from scratch again.”

Tears rolled down his wife’s cheeks and he squeezed her hand.

The domino effect could go something like this: If 1,000 families leave town, said economist Hicks — who wouldn’t be surprised if it were double that — seats would be left empty in schools, leading to teacher layoffs; there would be far fewer customers in restaurants, shops and other businesses.

Most of the customers at Los Jalapenos, a Mexican restaurant down the street from the plant, are Tyson workers. They fill booths after work and are greeted by owner Armando Martinez’s mustachioed grin and bellow of “Hola, amigo!”

If he can’t keep up with bills, the restaurant will close, said Martinez, who undergoes dialysis for diabetes and has an amputated foot.

“There’s just nowhere we can go,” he said.

Many, including City Manager Joe Pepplitsch, are hoping Tyson puts the plant up for sale and a new company comes in bringing new jobs. That isn’t a quick fix, requiring time, negotiations, renovations and no guarantee of comparable jobs.

Pepplitsch, who noted that Tyson hasn't had to pay city taxes due to a deal negotiated years ago, said that “Tyson owes this community a debt. I think they have a responsibility here to help ease some of the impact."

Asked by the AP for comment about plans for the site, Tyson said in a statement that it “is currently assessing how we can repurpose the facility within our own production network.” It did not provide details or say whether it plans to offer support to the community through the plant closure.

Two women listen during an informational meeting held by the Nebraska Department of Labor for Tyson Foods employees in Lexington, Neb., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A worker walks through steam coming from the Tyson Foods' beef plant in Lexington, Neb., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Trucks carrying grain drive past cattle in pens at the Darr Feedlot in Cozad, Neb., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Drivers wait in line at a mobile food bank organized by Crossroads Mission Avenue near the Tyson Foods' beef plant in Lexington, Neb., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Two men walk past a business in downtown Lexington, Neb., Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)