Uber is cutting 10% of its worldwide staff as the ride-hailing giant moves to become a leaner, less complex organization, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees in an open message posted Wednesday on the company’s website.
Based on Uber’s employee count at the end of last year, the layoffs would affect about 3,400 workers.
The company said the restructuring is designed to strip out management layers, simplify how teams are organized and sharpen overall efficiency. Khosrowshahi said the workforce reductions will help Uber put more resources toward drivers, couriers and merchants, while also accelerating innovation in areas such as autonomous driving.
“To do those things, we need to make deliberate choices about where we put our people, our time, and our capital,” he wrote in the memo.
Analysts at Wedbush Securities estimated in a report that Uber’s job cuts could generate roughly $1.7 billion in savings.
Alongside the layoffs, Uber introduced a new “location strategy” that pushes employees back toward in-person work at the company’s main office hubs.
“The benefits of sitting together, collaborating in person, and solving problems as a team are clearer than ever in our post-COVID world,” Khosrowshahi said. “With that in mind, we’re establishing clearer principles for where roles and teams should be based, with the goal of concentrating teams in a smaller number of key hubs.”
Under the updated policy, most remote Uber employees will be expected to move to a location where they can work from an office, with the company saying only around 1% of its workforce will be allowed to remain fully remote going forward.
Uber, founded in 2009 as a rideshare company, has since expanded into other businesses, including food and retail delivery.
Uber shares rose on Wednesday as much as 2.5%.
Alain Sherter
contributed to this report.
