Uber, the American ride-hailing giant, announced on Wednesday (September 2) that it would be laying off 10% of its workforce in an effort to streamline its management structure and reduce operational costs.
In an email to employees, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated, “The adjustments we are making today are aimed at two things: making Uber simpler and faster, and creating more capacity to invest in our future.”
The layoffs at Uber are mainly targeting middle management, with a focus on flattening the management structure and eliminating redundant processes. Khosrowshahi mentioned that the company plans to reduce the number of “micro teams” with only one or two members by about 50%, and decrease the number of employees who are more than seven layers below the CEO by 20%.
Furthermore, Uber is also streamlining its core engineering, science, and delivery teams by merging three operational teams responsible for restaurants, retail, and white-label delivery services.
Khosrowshahi also mentioned that the company is requiring the “vast majority” of employees who have been working remotely to return to the office, while still allowing less than 1% of employees to continue remote work.
A spokesperson for Uber stated that the focus of this restructuring is on management, with a 20% reduction in lower-level managers and some of them being transitioned to Individual Contributors (IC), meaning they will not have management responsibilities and direct reports.
However, the company did not disclose the proportion of manager-level employees being laid off. The layoffs also include non-managerial staff.
According to Uber’s annual report submitted to regulators at the end of 2025, the company had approximately 34,000 employees globally in various countries. With the announced 10% layoff rate, around 3,300 employees are expected to be let go in this round of layoffs.
Uber is the latest company to attempt to speed up decision-making and increase efficiency by streamlining its management structure. Tech giants like Google have also taken similar measures in recent years.
Unlike many other tech companies attributing recent layoffs to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), Khosrowshahi did not cite AI as the reason for Uber’s layoffs this time.
As mentioned in the email, with the goal of “creating more capacity to invest in our future,” Uber is expected to reallocate funds towards its ride-sharing, delivery, and robotaxi businesses. The company had previously committed to investing over $10 billion in the coming years in robotaxi technology, aiming to transform its ride-sharing service into a preferred platform for autonomous vehicles.
This round of layoffs is Uber’s largest since 2020. In 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company laid off 3,700 employees, accounting for around 14% of its workforce at that time. Shortly after, Uber announced the additional layoffs of 3,000 positions and the closure of 45 offices.