Electric scooter startup Bird is laying off almost a quarter of its workforce

• Electric scooter startup Bird is laying off almost a quarter of its staff.
• Bird said in a statement "macro economic trends" meant it needed to push for profitability.

Electric scooter rental startup Bird has joined the growing raft of tech companies laying off staff as the economy shrinks.

The layoffs were first reported by the Twitter account Layoffs.fyi, which tracks job cuts in tech companies. In a statement to TechCrunch Bird confirmed it was making 23% of staff redundant.

Bird later confirmed the layoffs Insider.

Bird told TechCrunch it had a headcount of about 600 people, meaning almost 140 roles are affected. The layoffs span a range of positions, from senior managers to new hires, a Bird spokesperson told Insider.

"While the need for and access to micro-electric vehicle transportation has never been greater, macro economic trends impacting everyone have resulted in an acceleration of our path to profitability," the company said in a statement to Insider.

"In addition to eliminating all non-critical third party spend, we also unfortunately had to depart with a number of team members who passionately helped create a new industry and paved the way for more eco-friendly transportation," Bird said.

Bird's spokesperson told Insider laid off staff would receive a minimum of three weeks severance.

A number of tech companies including Netflix, PayPal, and Robinhood have cut jobs since April.

Large tech companies including Meta and Microsoft have announced they're freezing or slowing hiring, while Coinbase has even rescinded some job offers.

Bird cut 30% of its workforce in March 2020 on a group Zoom call. One worker told TechCrunch that this time the company told staff in one-on-one meetings, and the cuts had not come entirely out of the blue.

"In my case, my manager gave me a warning as soon as the Q1 earnings was released. As a result, I was mentally prepared," the former employee told TechCrunch.

Miami-based Bird was founded in September 2017 and went public last year in a "blank check" deal. Its shares have since fallen more than 90%, leaving the company worth about $200 million.

Its scooters are available to rent in dozens of cities and universities across the US, as well as cities in Europe and a handful in the Middle East.