Uber Technologies Inc. is cutting approximately 3,300 roles, representing 10% of its global workforce, as part of a comprehensive restructuring initiative. According to reports from Bloomberg News and Reuters, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced these changes in an internal email on September 2, 2026, stating that Uber's growth over recent years has created "more layers, more coordination, more fragmented ownership, and in some cases structures that made sense when businesses were smaller but no longer serve us well at our current scale." The cuts will reduce the number of managers by 20%, with some being moved to individual contributor roles, though the company did not disclose the specific percentage of managers being laid off. As reported by The Times of India, Uber had about 34,000 employees globally at the end of last year, according to its annual report, and the latest layoffs will bring the company's total employee count to just under 30,000. This represents Uber's largest workforce reduction since May 2020, when the company cut about 6,700 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its workforce, as pandemic restrictions crushed demand for ride-hailing services. The layoffs are Uber's largest since May 2020, when a pandemic-driven demand collapse forced it to shed 6,700 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its staff.
Uber Technologies reported robust financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, demonstrating strong operational performance across key metrics. According to the company's earnings announcement, revenue rose 12% year-on-year to $14.2 billion, while gross bookings increased 24% to $58 billion or 22% on a constant-currency basis. The company's operational efficiency improved significantly, with trips rising 18% to 3.9 billion and monthly active platform consumers increasing 16% to 208 million. Profitability metrics showed substantial improvement, with GAAP income from operations rising 30% to $1.9 billion and non-GAAP operating income increasing 40% to $2.1 billion. Adjusted EBITDA reached $2.8 billion, up 33% from the previous year, while non-GAAP net income rose 29% to $1.7 billion and non-GAAP EPS increased 35% to $0.81.
To streamline operations, Uber is reducing nearly half the number of teams that consist of only one or two members and cutting back on employees who sit more than seven layers below the CEO. As reported by Bloomberg News and Reuters, the company is also streamlining its core engineering, science and delivery groups, including consolidating its three operations teams for restaurants, retail and its white-label delivery service. According to Khosrowshahi's email obtained by Bloomberg News, the number of employees sitting seven or more layers below the CEO has been reduced by 20%, while the number of such small teams, or "micro-teams," has been cut by nearly 50%. The restructuring aims to create clearer ownership, speed up decision-making and allow employees to spend more time building products and serving customers rather than coordinating between teams. Uber is also consolidating its Core Services Engineering and Science teams in its technology organization, while bringing together its three Delivery Ops teams covering Restaurants, Retail and Direct into single-threaded teams at global, regional and country levels. As part of Wednesday's overhaul, Uber will reduce the number of employees positioned seven or more reporting layers below the CEO by 20% and cut the number of teams with only one or two direct reports by nearly 50%.
As part of its ongoing push for in-person collaboration, Uber is mandating that only about 1% of employees can work remotely going forward. According to The Times of India, the company will concentrate global teams in its largest global hubs in New York and San Francisco, while regional, local and technology teams will be based in designated hubs. The company is asking the vast majority of remote employees to move to an office, while continuing to enforce its hybrid policy requiring staff to work from the office three days a week. This policy change represents a significant shift from the company's previous approach, with the layoffs following more targeted cuts Uber has made across its customer service and human resources departments this year. Unlike several tech executives, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi did not blame the cuts on AI, though he did not mention AI specifically in his announcement. The CEO acknowledged that the restructuring would create significant disruption for employees but argued that making one major organizational change was preferable to carrying out multiple smaller rounds of changes. Uber shares rose as much as 2.1% to $76.79 in New York before paring most of those gains to trade less than 1% higher, following the announcement.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated that the restructuring will "generate savings that we intend to reinvest in growth, innovation, and the capabilities that will matter most over the coming years." According to Investing.com, Uber stock gained 2.4% Wednesday morning following the Bloomberg report, with the company planning to direct additional investments toward drivers, couriers and merchants, as well as upgrades to its core ride-sharing and delivery businesses and autonomous vehicle development. The layoffs could translate to about $1.5 billion to $2 billion in annualized savings, as noted by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, though they added that "heavier investment in autonomous vehicles may limit the near-term margin benefit from the workforce reduction." The job cuts are taking place across the US and other countries where Uber operates, with Khosrowshahi noting that the changes are also driven by a desire to use more technology to support daily operations. The company is also grappling with AI costs after employees used up their entire 2026 budget for the technology in just four months, according to media reports. The layoffs come as Uber faces mounting pressure from competitors, with DoorDash, Instacart and local delivery platforms putting pressure on Uber Eats, forcing the company to turn to deals such as its $14.8 billion Delivery Hero acquisition to build scale and compete better. The move comes as Uber has vowed to commit more than $10 billion to robotaxi partnerships in the coming years as it seeks to transform its service into the go-to platform for hailing an autonomous vehicle.
