Uber Technologies announced a reduction of about 3,300 jobs, representing roughly 10% of its global workforce, as part of a significant management overhaul. This move, reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by an internal email from CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, aims to cut down on management layers and streamline operations. The restructuring will reportedly shrink the number of managers by 20%, with some shifting to individual contributor roles. The company also plans to reduce teams with only one or two members by 50% and dismiss staff more than seven layers removed from the CEO.
The layoffs are part of Uber's strategy to become a flatter, faster, and more efficient organization. Khosrowshahi's memo highlighted that while Uber has grown significantly, this growth has introduced complexity, fragmented ownership, and structures that no longer serve the company's current scale. As part of these changes, Uber is consolidating its engineering, science, and delivery divisions, as well as integrating its delivery operations across restaurants, retail, and direct segments. The company is also largely eliminating remote work, with less than 1% of staff permitted to work remotely.
Despite being profitable and growing, with Q2 gross bookings up 24% year-over-year to $58.0 billion and a free cash flow of $2.8 billion, Uber is making these cuts to reallocate resources. The savings from these layoffs are intended to be reinvested into strategic growth areas, particularly its ride-sharing, delivery, and nascent robotaxi businesses. Uber has aggressive plans for autonomous vehicles, partnering with companies like Nvidia and Rivian to deploy robotaxis starting in 2027 and expanding to multiple cities by 2028. This push is intensified by the unwinding of its partnership with Waymo, which is developing its own independent app.
These job cuts follow a prior reduction in June where Uber cut 23% of its People and Places division. The current, larger round of layoffs is seen as a company-wide flattening rather than departmental cleanup. This restructuring also coincides with Uber's significant investment in acquiring Delivery Hero for an implied equity value of $14.8 billion, a deal expected to close in the second half of 2027. The company's focus on efficiency and strategic investment also touches on AI, with Khosrowshahi noting that about 10% of Uber's code is now built by AI agents, which implicitly affects staffing needs in certain areas.
