By Chuck Martin
In response to the business impact of the global pandemic, Uber is reducing its workforce by 3,000 and closing or consolidating 45 offices around the world.
With its primary business of ridesharing down 80%, Uber is refocusing on its core of moving people and things and building on its Uber Eats business, one growing due to remote food ordering by homebound consumers.
The incubator and artificial intelligence development operations are being shuttered and the company will “pursue strategic alternatives for Uber Works.”
Among the consolidation, Uber is winding Pier 70 in San Francisco, moving some staff to the new San Francisco headquarters and over the next 12 months closing its Singapore office.
“People are rightfully staying home, and our Rides business, our main profit generator, is down around 80%,” stated Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a letter to employees. “We’re seeing some signs of a recovery, but it comes off a deep hole, with limited visibility as to its speed and shape.
“Having learned my own personal lesson about the unpredictability of the world from the punch-in-the-gut called COVID-19, I will not make any claims with absolute certainty regarding our future.”
