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 $4 as the economy shrinks.

The layoffs were first reported by the Twitter account $4, which tracks job cuts in tech companies. In a statement to $4 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 $4, $4, and $4 have cut jobs since April.

Large tech companies including Meta and Microsoft have announced they're $4 while $4 has even rescinded some job offers.

$4 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.