Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says cuts are a part of ride-hailing large’s drive in the direction of ‘autonomous future.’
Uber has introduced that it’s laying off 3,300 staff, or 10 p.c of its workforce, and ceasing operations in Nigeria and Uganda.
The job cuts introduced on Wednesday mark the biggest discount in the ride-hailing firm’s headcount for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic.
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In a memo to staff, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi mentioned the cuts have been aimed toward decreasing layers of administration and “simplifying team structures” as the corporate appears to be like to “build the autonomous future,” in addition to “invest even more in drivers, couriers and merchants”.
Uber confirmed in response to Al Jazeera’s inquiries on Thursday that it had exited Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, and Uganda with instant impact.
“This decision is limited strictly to these two markets and does not impact our operations across the rest of the continent,” an organization spokesperson mentioned.
“Our immediate priority is supporting drivers, riders and local team members throughout this transition. Uber remains deeply committed to sub-Saharan Africa, where we continue to see robust growth and long-term opportunity.”
In his memo, Khosrowshahi mentioned Uber would additionally halve the variety of “micro-teams” in which managers solely have one or two direct staff.
“A leaner organisation will mean clearer ownership, faster decisions and more time spent building rather than coordinating,” Khosrowshahi mentioned.
Khosrowshahi additionally mentioned the corporate would push for many of its staff to return to the workplace, saying that “going forward, only ~1% of employees will be remote”.
The newest spherical of cuts comes simply weeks after the ride-sharing large eradicated 10 p.c of its customer support roles because it embraced synthetic intelligence (AI), in response to Bloomberg, which first reported the July cuts.
The San Francisco-based enterprise additionally introduced a hiring slowdown in May, which it attributed to AI as nicely.
The cuts come amid strain in its robotaxi unit.
Uber plans to speculate $10bn into constructing its presence. However, the corporate has hit velocity bumps amid rising tensions with different firms in the area.
While Waymo operates driverless vehicles by means of Uber in each Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin, Texas, it’s increasing into different markets with out them as Tesla additionally makes inroads into the robotaxi market.
Tesla is about to carry an occasion for its robotaxi Cybercab in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.
Uber’s layoffs come regardless of sturdy development on the firm, which Khosrowshahi touched on in the memo.
In the latest annual report, Uber’s income jumped by 18 p.c between 2024 and 2025 to $52bn.
While development in the second quarter of 2026 moderated, income jumped 12 p.c to $14.2bn, in response to its most up-to-date earnings launched final month.
Khosrowshahi was paid 360 occasions greater than the common worker at Uber in 2025, in response to the the AFL-CIO’s Executive Paywatch Tracker.
Still, on Wall Street, Uber inventory has struggled this 12 months, and is down 8 p.c for the 12 months. On Wednesday, it was up greater than 1.6 p.c in noon buying and selling.
According to Layoffs.fyi, a web site that tracks job cuts in the tech business, greater than 128,000 staff have been laid off at practically 290 firms throughout the tech sector in 2026 alone.