Uber Technologies (UBER.N) announced on Wednesday that it will eliminate 3,300 positions, or nearly 10% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization intended to eliminate management tiers, combine teams, and slash expenses.
The changes come after a challenging year for Uber shares, which have dropped by about 8% and underperformed the larger S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab. Investors are worried that Waymo and other autonomous ride-hailing services will challenge Uber’s dominant market dominance in North America.
According to its annual report, the corporation employed roughly 34,000 people worldwide at the end of the previous year.
The layoffs would be Uber’s biggest since May 2020, when the firm eliminated over 6,700 positions, or almost 25% of its workforce, because to regulatory limitations that reduced demand for ride-hailing services.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated that the layoffs would decrease organizational complexity that had slowed down Uber’s decision-making and create jobs focused on coordination, echoing a larger movement across the tech industry to be nimble.
He did not, however, attribute the losses to AI, in contrast to a number of IT leaders. He added that as part of the change, Uber would merge several departments and focus the majority of its workforce on important hubs.
Uber claimed to have slashed the number of “micro-teams”—groups with just one or two direct reports—by almost half and the number of workers positioned seven or more reporting levels below the CEO by 20%.
While upholding its three-day office policy, the business will concentrate its worldwide teams in New York and San Francisco, mandate the relocation of the majority of remote workers, and restrict totally remote employment to roughly 1% of staff.
Following the statement, which was initially reported by Bloomberg News, its shares increased by almost 2% in premarket trade.
