Uber lays off 3,300 employees in largest cuts since the pandemic

Uber Technologies has laid off 3,300 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce, marking the largest cuts to the ride-hailing company’s headcount since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a memo to employees on Wednesday, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the cuts were part of wider efforts reducing layers of management and “simplifying team structures” as the company looks to “build the autonomous future” as well as “invest even more in drivers, couriers and merchants”. The company will also cut in half the number of “micro-teams” in which managers only had one or two direct employees, according to the memo. “A leaner organisation will mean clearer ownership, faster decisions, and more time spent building rather than coordinating,” Khosrowshahi said. Khosrowshahi also told employees that the company is pushing for most of its workers to return to the office, declaring, “going forward, only ~1% of employees will be remote”. The latest round of cuts comes just weeks after the ride-sharing giant eliminated 10 percent of its customer service roles as it embraced artificial intelligence (AI), according to Bloomberg, which first reported the July cuts. The San Francisco-based business also announced a hiring slowdown in May, which it attributed to AI as well. The cuts come amid pressure in its robotaxi unit. Uber plans to invest $10bn into building its presence. Uber’s layoffs come despite strong growth at the company, which Khosrowshahi touched on in the memo. According to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks job cuts in the tech industry, more than 123,000 employees have been laid off at nearly 290 companies across the tech sector in 2026 alone.