Uber to cut 3,300 jobs globally in major restructuring

Uber Technologies is set to cut about 3,300 jobs globally, representing roughly 10% of its workforce, as the ride-hailing company restructures its operations to reduce management layers and redirect spending towards growth and autonomous vehicle technology.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Dara Khosrowshahi, announced the restructuring in an email to employees, saying Uber’s rapid expansion over the past five years had created additional management layers, fragmented responsibilities and structures that were no longer suited to the company’s current scale.

The workforce reduction is expected to reduce Uber’s management ranks by about 20%, while some managers will be moved into individual contributor roles.

The cuts will also affect non-management employees.

What they are saying

Uber plans to simplify its organisational structure by reducing the number of “micro-teams” with only one or two employees by almost 50%. It will also reduce the number of employees positioned seven or more layers below the CEO by 20%.

The company is also consolidating parts of its operations. Its three delivery operations teams covering restaurants, retail and direct delivery will be combined into unified teams across global, regional and country levels.

• According to Khosrowshahi, the restructuring is intended to create clearer accountability, speed up decision-making and reduce duplication across the company.
• Uber’s shares rose as much as 2.1% to $76.79 following the announcement before giving up most of the gains to trade less than 1% higher.
• The move comes as Uber commits more than $10 billion to robotaxi partnerships in the coming years as it seeks to position itself as a leading platform for autonomous transportation.

Uber has already expanded its investments in autonomous vehicle companies, including Lucid Group, Nuro and Rivian, while also investing in Avride. The company has also reduced some of its existing stakes in other businesses as it reallocates capital towards its long-term strategy.

The latest layoffs follow more targeted workforce reductions at Uber this year, including cuts in its customer service and human resources divisions.

Get up to speed

Uber’s planned workforce reduction comes amid a broader wave of restructuring across the global technology industry in 2026. Cloudflare announced on May 7 that it would cut more than 1,100 employees, representing about 20% of its global workforce, despite reporting quarterly revenue of $639.8 million, up 34% year-on-year, as it reoriented towards AI-native infrastructure.

• Atlassian also announced plans on March 11 to cut about 1,600 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, with CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes acknowledging that artificial intelligence was changing the mix of skills and roles required by the company. The savings were expected to be redirected towards AI development and enterprise sales.

Intuit, the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks, announced on May 20 that it would eliminate approximately 3,000 jobs, or 17% of its workforce, as part of efforts to simplify its organisational structure and reduce complexity.

What you should know

Uber’s latest restructuring comes weeks after the company was fined €825 million ($966 million) by the Dutch Data Protection Authority over its use of automated systems to suspend and deactivate drivers.

• The penalty, which covered practices between 2020 and 2022, followed complaints from drivers in France and centred on Uber’s use of automated fraud detection and ratings-based deactivations.
• The Dutch regulator said the systems did not provide adequate safeguards for drivers affected by significant automated decisions. Uber rejected the findings and described the fine as disproportionate, saying the practices in question had already been discontinued, with its temporary fraud waitlisting process ending in 2021 and ratings-based deactivations ending in 2022.

Uber also announced earlier today that it would wind down its operations in Nigeria and Uganda, effective September 2, 2026. In Nigeria, the decision brings an end to Uber’s 12-year presence in the market, where it launched operations in Lagos in 2014. The company said the exit followed a review of its business priorities and investment focus across Africa and was not linked to the recent dispute over e-hailing operations at Nigerian airports.