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

By Al Jazeera Staff. Published On 2 Sep 20262 Sep 2026.

Key points

• In the most recent annual report, Uber's revenue jumped 18 percent between 2024 and 2025 to $52bn.
• Khosrowshahi was paid 360 times more than the average employee at Uber in 2025, according to the the AFL-CIO's Executive Paywatch Tracker.
• Tesla is due to hold an event for its robotaxi Cybercab in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.
• Still, on Wall Street, Uber stock has struggled this year, and is down 8 percent for the year.
• The San Francisco-based business additionally unveiled a hiring slowdown in May.

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 remarked that the cuts were part of wider efforts reducing layers of management and "simplifying team structures" as the business looks to "build the autonomous future" as well as "invest even more in drivers, couriers and merchants".

For context, the firm will additionally 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 remarked.

Khosrowshahi additionally informed employees that the firm is pushing for most of its workers to return to the office, declaring, "going forward, only ~1% of employees will be remote".

For context, 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. It first documented the July cuts. The San Francisco-based business additionally unveiled a hiring slowdown in May. It it attributed to AI as well.

Notably, the cuts come against the backdrop of pressure in its robotaxi unit. Uber intends to invest $10bn into building its presence. Nevertheless, the business has hit speed bumps against the backdrop of growing tensions with other businesses in the space.

While Waymo operates driverless cars through Uber in both Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin, Texas, it is expanding into other markets without them as Tesla additionally makes inroads into the robotaxi market.

Uber's layoffs come despite solid expansion at the firm. It khosrowshahi touched on in the memo.

In the most recent annual report, Uber's revenue jumped 18 percent between 2024 and 2025 to $52bn. While expansion in the second quarter of 2026 moderated, revenue jumped 12 percent to $14.2bn, according to its most recent earnings issued last month.

Still, on Wall Street, Uber stock has struggled this year, and is down 8 percent for the year. On Wednesday, it was up more than 1.6 percent in midday trading.

According to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks job cuts in the tech industry, more than 123, 000 employees have been laid off at almost 290 businesses throughout the tech sector in 2026 alone.

Taken together, the developments around uber lays off 3, 300 employees in largest cuts since the pandemic point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.