Uber to cut 10% of workforce
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Uber is cutting 10% of its positions. Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Uber plans to cut 10% of its workforce to simplify its operations.
The big picture: The reductions come amid a fervent conversation over the role of AI in replacing jobs, but Uber didn't cite AI as a catalyst for the cuts.
Driving the news: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an internal memo that the company is "removing layers, simplifying team structures, refining our global location strategy, and focusing our people and investments against the biggest opportunities ahead of us."
- The company had about 36,600 employees globally as of June 30, according to a public filing.
Zoom in: Many of the cuts are aimed at reducing middle management, including "micro-teams" where managers have only one to two people reporting to them.
- The company also reduced the number of employees who are at least seven layers down from the CEO by 20%.
- And Uber is ending remote work for most employees — "going forward, only ~1% of employees will be remote," Khosrowshahi said.
"The changes we're making today are designed to do two things: make Uber simpler and faster, and create more capacity to invest in our future," Khosrowshahi said in the memo.
- "A leaner organization will mean clearer ownership, faster decisions, and more time spent building rather than coordinating. It will also generate savings that we intend to reinvest in growth, innovation, and the capabilities that will matter most over the coming years."
- He said the cuts were not reflective of the status of the business, which "is performing so well" and adding new products.
As Uber grew in recent years, it added "more layers, more coordination, more fragmented ownership, and in some cases structures that made sense when businesses were smaller but no longer serve us well at our current scale," Khosrowshahi said.
The impact: Uber shares were up just over 1% in early trading Wednesday.
