Uber is eliminating approximately 3,300 positions, roughly 10% of its workforce, in its largest round of layoffs since the COVID-19 pandemic2,3. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees on Wednesday that the cuts will flatten management layers and reduce organizational complexity that accumulated during a period of rapid growth.
The company had about 34,000 employees globally at the end of last year. Under the restructuring, Uber will reduce the number of employees positioned seven or more reporting layers below the CEO by 20% and cut the number of teams with only one or two direct reports by nearly half. Fully remote roles will be limited to about 1% of staff, and the company will maintain its three-day office policy.
"A leaner organization will mean clearer ownership, faster decisions, and more time spent building rather than coordinating. It will also generate savings that we intend to reinvest in growth, innovation, and the capabilities that will matter most over the coming years," Khosrowshahi said.
The headline framing from Barron's ties the restructuring directly to funding Uber's robotaxi push1. Uber plans to put more than $10 billion into robotaxis in the coming years. Waymo, described as the biggest US robotaxi operator, currently runs its cars through Uber's app in Austin and Atlanta.
Khosrowshahi notably did not blame the cuts on AI, even as AI-driven efficiency gains have fueled layoffs across the tech sector this year, with tracking website layoffs.fyi putting the overall number at over 123,000 across nearly 390 companies. Separately, Uber employees reportedly used up their entire 2026 budget for AI tools in just four months.
Uber shares rose nearly 1% following the announcement. The stock has underperformed the S&P 500 and rival Lyft this year, declining nearly 8%, driven by concerns about growing competition. DoorDash, Instacart, and local delivery platforms have been pressuring Uber Eats. Uber's previous largest layoff came in May 2020, when it shed 6,700 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its staff. The latest cuts were first reported by Bloomberg News.
The restructuring arrives during an active stretch of autonomous-vehicle investment for Uber. The company launched autonomous rides in Zagreb on August 20 with Pony.ai and Verne, marking its first European self-driving deployment ctx. Days later, Uber and Zipline announced a partnership to integrate autonomous drones into Uber Eats, targeting one million drone deliveries per day by the end of 2029 ctx. The broader robotaxi market is also intensifying: Amazon subsidiary Zoox began deploying fully autonomous vehicles in San Francisco and started charging fares in Las Vegas on August 10 ctx.
ANALYSIS The layoffs pair cost discipline with a capital reallocation thesis: Uber is shrinking its human workforce and organizational overhead to fund a transition toward autonomous operations, even as it currently depends on a competitor, Waymo, to supply robotaxi vehicles on its own platform. The more-than-$10-billion robotaxi spending target and the rapid consumption of AI-tool budgets point to a company accelerating its technology bets while trimming the labor base that supported its growth phase.