In June 2020, Bird, a micromobility company, laid off approximately 100 employees from Circ, the European scooter-sharing startup it had acquired just months earlier. This represented a significant portion of Circ's workforce, as the layoffs coincided with Bird shutting down Circ's entire Middle East operations in Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar. The company cited extreme summer heat as the reason for a temporary "pause," but the move was part of a broader industry pullback during the COVID-19 pandemic to cut costs. Concurrently, Bird scrapped between 8,000 and 10,000 Circ scooters, stating they were worn out and failed to meet safety standards, despite receiving purchase offers from other mobility firms.
