Uber to shed 10% of workers as it moves to cut costs and streamline

Uber is laying off 10% of its global workforce as part of a move to streamline and simplify the ride-sharing company, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an open message to employees published Wednesday on the company’s website. 

The cuts amount to roughly 3,400 jobs based on Uber’s headcount at the end of last year. 

The company said it is removing organizational layers, simplifying team structures and taking other steps to boost efficiency. The job cuts will allow Uber to invest more in its drivers, couriers and merchants, as well as to drive more innovation, including autonomous driving, Khosrowshahi said.

“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.

Wedbush Securities estimated in a report that the layoffs would save Uber roughly $1.7 billion.

Uber also announced a new “location strategy” that effectively mandates in-person work at its major 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.”

Uber is requiring most of its remote employees to relocate to a geographic location where they can report to an office, stating that only about 1% of workers will be permitted to work remotely in the future. 

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%.