Uber, the global ride-hailing company, is laying off about 3,700 full-time employees, it said in an SEC filing today. The cuts are being made in customer support and recruitment teams due to lower trip volumes and a hiring freeze according to the filing. The company also revealed that its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, will forgo his salary for the rest of the year.
This comes a day after Uber’s Middle Eastern subsidiary, which it acquired earlier this year, said it would lay off 31% of its workforce and Uber Eats’ exit from the Middle East and some other markets.
Uber said that it aims to “reduce its operating expenses in response to the economic challenges and uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on its business.”
The San Francisco-headquartered company has about 27,000 employees, so these cuts mean that it is reducing its workforce by almost 14%. Late last month, The Information had reported that Uber was discussing plans to lay off 20% of its workforce. According to the report, Uber’s business is down by over 80%.
Read this: Uber Eats exits Saudi Arabia and Egypt, transfers business to Careem Now in UAE
An Uber spokesperson, in a statement, said, “With people taking fewer trips, the unfortunate reality is that there isn’t enough work for many of our front-line customer support employees. Since we don’t know how long a recovery will take, we are taking steps to bring our costs in line with the size of our business today.”
“This was a tough decision, but it is the right one to help protect the company’s long-term health and ensure we come out of this crisis stronger,” the spokesperson added.
The company hasn’t shared the breakdown of the cuts but it is likely that they are being made across all its markets.
This article first appeared on MENAbytes.
