Micromobility company Bird raises its president, Shane Torchiana, to CEO status in a “long-planned” upheaval that will see its founding CEO Travis VanderZanden further stripped of power.
Bird’s board also announced two other appointments: former Archer Aviation chief financial officer Ben Lu has joined as Bird’s new CFO, taking over from Yibo Ling, and Bird engineering executive Lance Bradley has been promoted to chief technology officer – a role previously held. by product head Justin Balthrop. In between, VanderZanden will remain as chairman of Bird’s board.
Less than three months ago, VanderZanden served as both president and CEO of Bird, but the longtime startup executive stepped down from his role as president in June after Bird was hit, a warning from the New York Stock Exchange. When Bird went public last year by merging with a SPAC, the company started trading at $8.40 a share, but a lot has changed since then. The scooter rental company closed regular trading today at a dismal $0.40 per share with a market cap of approximately $100 million. To put the current cap in perspective: Bird has raised a whopping $1.14 billion so far, according to pitch book.
Bird has been having a hard time lately. The company burned $310 million in the second quarter of 2022, but also saw its quarterly revenue bounce back to $76.7 million — a remarkable (28%) increase from the same quarter last year.
Bird has framed leadership restructuring as part of his journey to profitability. “The organizational changes announced today reaffirm our commitment to position Bird for long-term profitable growth,” said VanderZandenwho called the reorganization a “long-planned transition.”
“Under new leadership, the company will continue to prioritize cost optimization without losing sight of our long-term commitment to making cities more livable and sustainable.