In what is its third such move within the span of under 6-months, cab aggregator Uber has laid-off almost 1% of its workforce. The company has handed the pink note to around 350 employees across Eats, performance marketing, global rides and platform departments, Advanced Technologies Group, and recruiting.
The move comes as part of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s initiative to restructure the company. He has also asked his leadership to relook at their teams and as a result, the company has fired almost 1200 people in less than 6 months, in three tranches of 435, 400, and 350. Many employees have also been asked to relocate.
Interestingly, this is the first time Uber has cut into its self-driving car unit, which was spun-off earlier this year. However, it seems like the unit has been one of the least affected considering that it still has over 1200 people, who operate a $7.25 Bn business.
Interestingly, the vast majority of these changes have been instituted in US and Canada. In fact, almost 70 percent of the lay offs have been made in the above two geographies with the remaining spread across APAC, Latin America and EMEA.
Uber recently had one of its worst quarters ever losing more than $5 Bn in Q2, 2019. A significant portion of those losses stemmed from employees offloading stock after the company’s IPO, but that’s neither here nor there. The company’s shares are currently trading at $31, well below the IPO price of $45 and on November 4th we can expect further substantial changes to the stock price as the company reports its Q3 earnings. Among other things, the layoffs could be aimed towards improving the bottom line and future projections, right before the earnings call.
Meanwhile, read the full e-mail CEO Dara shot across Uber, right below:
Team Uber,
As you know, over the past few months, our leaders have looked carefully at their teams to ensure our organizations are structured for success for the next few years. This has resulted in difficult but necessary changes to ensure we have the right people in the right roles in the right locations, and that we’re always holding ourselves accountable to top performance.
Today is the last wave of a process we began months ago with our Marketing team, and more recently, with our Product and Engineering teams. This time, ATG, Eats, Global Rides and Platform (Rides Ops, CommOps, Safety & Insurance, U4B, and Product Ops), Performance Marketing, and Recruiting have made changes. As part of this exercise, some of our employees are being asked to relocate, and around 350 will be leaving the company.
Days like today are tough for us all, and the ELT and I will do everything we can to make certain that we won’t need or have another day like this ahead of us. We all have to play a part by establishing a new normal in how we work: identifying and eliminating duplicate work, upholding high standards for performance, giving direct feedback and taking action when expectations aren’t being met, and eliminating the bureaucracy that tends to creep as companies grow.
We have proven ourselves to be not only one of the most ambitious and innovative companies in the world, but also one of the most resilient. We’ve always pushed through tough times and come out the other side a better and stronger company—that will continue to be true tomorrow, and every day after.
As always, we’ll be at the All Hands tomorrow and will dedicate most of the time to answer your questions. Add yours to the slido here.
Eyes forward—back to building.
Dara
