Uber Technologies Inc. is cutting approximately 3,400 roles, representing 10% of its global workforce, as part of a comprehensive restructuring initiative. According to reports from Bloomberg News, Reuters, The Times of India, and PTI, 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 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, 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.
As part of its global restructuring, Uber has announced the immediate shutdown of ride-hailing operations in Nigeria and Uganda, ending its presence in these markets after 12 years and 6 years respectively. According to BBC, the move ends Uber's 12-year presence in Nigeria, where the company launched in Lagos in 2014 before expanding to other cities, and Uber entered Uganda in 2016. Following these departures, Uber's operations in Africa are now limited to Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. An Uber spokesperson told BBC that the company remains committed to sub-Saharan Africa and continues to see growth and long-term opportunities in the region. The company has not publicly disclosed specific country-by-country reasons for leaving Nigeria and Uganda, though Reuters reported that the decision was attributed to a review of operations. BBC noted that Nigerian Uber drivers have for years complained that fares were too low in relation to rising fuel costs and that Uber's commissions were too high, while the company also faced competition from rival ride-hailing platforms in Nigeria. Uber stated it would support employees and drivers affected by the shutdowns and will keep its customer Help Centre in the two countries available until September 23 to deal with outstanding account-related issues.
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, Reuters, The Times of India, and PTI, 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 company is also streamlining 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. According to PTI, Uber is merging its three separate Delivery Operations teams — spanning Restaurants, Retail and Direct — into single-threaded teams at the global, regional and country levels. The restructuring aims to remove organisational layers, simplify team structures, refine the company's global location strategy and concentrate employees and investments on what Uber considers its biggest opportunities. 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 and PTI, 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 Financial Times reported that the company plans to use savings from the restructuring to support investments in its robotaxi strategy, with Citi analysts estimating the job cuts could generate approximately $825 million in annual savings. 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.
