Uber is laying off about 3,300 employees, or about 10% of its workforce.
It is the deepest cut the ride-hailing giant that revolutionized on-demand taxis has made since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi announced the layoffs in a letter to employees Wednesday. The cut comes as Uber faces increasing competition from the growing robotaxi industry and other delivery services such as Instacart and DoorDash.
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous taxi company, is expanding rapidly and operates in 14 cities including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Uber also competes with rival Lyft across the country.
“We are removing layers, simplifying team structures, refining our global location strategy, and focusing our people and investments against the biggest opportunities ahead of us,” Khosrowshahi said in his letter. “This wasn’t a decision we made lightly.”
Uber’s efforts to trim and streamline its workforce will lead to faster decision-making and clearer ownership, the company said.
The San Francisco-based company employed roughly 34,000 workers in more than 70 countries as of its most recent annual report filed at the end of last year.
Bloomberg first reported that the cut will bring Uber’s headcount to below 30,000.
Khosrowshahi said Uber spends too much time coordinating between teams and not enough time developing its business. It has reduced roles focused primarily on coordination and cut the number of teams of just one to two employees by 50%.
“The outcome is a simpler org chart geared toward building versus managing,” Khosrowshahi said.
Uber also is asking most of its remote employees to return to the office, bringing the portion of fully remote employees to around 1%. Khosrowshahi said Uber will continue to enforce compliance with its hybrid work policy, which requires three days a week in the office.
Uber shares rose more than 2% to around $77 in midday trading Wednesday. It has underperformed in the broader market, as its stock price has fallen around 6% this year while the Nasdaq Composite Index has risen more than 12%.
Traditional ride-hailing faces what could be an existential threat from the rise of robotaxis, which developers say are safer and more efficient. Amazon’s robotaxi effort Zoox, which utilizes a purpose-built vehicle with no steering wheel or gas pedal, started charging for its first paid rides in Las Vegas last month. Zoox also is testing in San Francisco and has a presence in 10 other cities, including San Diego and Miami.
Last month, Uber and Lyft drivers in California took a significant step toward unionizing when the budding union secured support from 30% of active drivers in the state. The union could be certified in less than 30 days as long as no other qualifying organization emerges.
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