Uber is cutting about 3,300 jobs, roughly 10% of its global workforce, and is also shutting down its ride-hailing operations in Nigeria and Uganda from September 2, 2026. The moves are part of a broader restructuring aimed at reducing management layers, combining smaller teams, concentrating employees in major office hubs and redirecting spending toward core operations and autonomous vehicles.
BREAKING: Uber, $UBER, is laying off 10% of its employees in a massive restructuring effort aimed at reducing costs.
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) September 2, 2026
The layoffs will impact a total of 3,300 people and will reduce the number of managers in the company by 20%.
The move comes as Uber has vowed to commit more…
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that years of expansion had made Uber more complex, with additional layers, overlapping responsibilities and slower decision-making. The company now wants a flatter structure while redirecting resources toward ride-hailing, delivery and autonomous vehicles.
Uber exits Nigeria and Uganda from September 2
In the latest development, Uber has ended its operations in Nigeria and Uganda effective September 2, 2026, following a review of its business priorities and investment strategy.
The company said the decision is limited to those two markets and does not affect its operations elsewhere in Africa. Uber said it remains committed to sub-Saharan Africa, where it continues to see long-term growth opportunities.
Uber’s Nigeria departure ends about 12 years of operations in the country after the service launched in Lagos in 2014. In Uganda, Uber launched in Kampala in 2016, meaning the company is leaving after roughly a decade.
For Nigerian customers, Uber said its help centre will remain available until September 23, 2026 to assist with final account-related questions.
Why is Uber leaving Nigeria and Uganda?
Uber has said the decision followed a review of its evolving business priorities and where it wants to direct investment. The company has not provided a detailed financial breakdown explaining the performance of the Nigerian and Ugandan businesses.
The market exits come on the same day as Uber’s wider corporate restructuring, although the company has not said that the 3,300 global job cuts alone caused the decision to withdraw from the two countries.
The Nigeria exit also follows recent changes affecting ride-hailing services at Nigerian airports. However, Uber has said its departure is not connected to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria’s recent directive concerning e-hailing operations at airports.
Uber cuts 3,300 jobs in global restructuring
Separately, Uber is eliminating approximately 3,300 positions worldwide, representing about 10% of its global workforce.
The company had about 34,000 employees at the end of 2025, meaning the restructuring is expected to reduce total headcount to below 30,000.
Affected employees have been informed in many markets, although implementation may take longer in countries where local employment laws require consultations or other procedures.
Uber has not released a complete country-by-country or department-by-department breakdown of the job cuts.
Managers and small teams face major changes
Management structure is one of the biggest targets of the overhaul. Uber says the number of managers will fall by about 20%.
That does not mean every affected manager will lose their job. Some are expected to move into individual-contributor roles, while non-management employees are also included in the overall 3,300 reductions.
Uber has also cut the number of one- or two-person “micro-teams” by nearly 50% and is reducing the number of employees positioned seven or more organizational layers below the CEO.
The goal is to give teams clearer ownership and reduce the amount of internal coordination required before decisions are made.
Uber is combining delivery and technology teams
The restructuring also changes how several major parts of Uber operate.
Delivery operations covering Restaurants, Retail and Direct are being combined into more unified structures at global, regional and country levels. Uber is also bringing together parts of its Core Services Engineering and Science organizations.
Management believes fewer overlapping teams will allow regional leaders to move resources more quickly toward businesses and markets showing stronger growth.
Only around 1% of staff will remain fully remote
Remote work is another major part of the changes. Uber plans to concentrate employees in designated hubs, with major global teams centered particularly around San Francisco and New York.
The vast majority of fully remote employees are expected to relocate closer to an Uber office. Going forward, only around 1% of the workforce is expected to remain fully remote.
Uber is also maintaining its hybrid requirement of three office days per week, meaning some employees who retain their jobs could still face relocation or workplace changes.
Why is Uber cutting jobs while revenue is growing?
The timing makes this restructuring different from layoffs triggered by an immediate financial crisis.
Uber’s official second-quarter 2026 results showed revenue of about $14.2 billion, up 12% from a year earlier. Gross bookings reached about $58 billion, while trips increased 18% to nearly 3.9 billion.
Operating income rose to about $1.9 billion and adjusted EBITDA reached roughly $2.8 billion.
Those figures indicate that Uber is using the restructuring primarily to simplify its organization, control costs and free up investment capacity rather than responding to a sudden collapse in customer demand.
Other large employers are making similar structural changes. In another recent workforce move, Woolworths shifted about 130 New Zealand roles to Australia as part of changes affecting its technology operations.
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Robotaxis are becoming a bigger priority
Uber says savings from the restructuring will be reinvested in growth, innovation, drivers, couriers, merchants and future technology.
Autonomous vehicles are central to that strategy. Uber expects to commit more than $10 billion over the coming years through autonomous-vehicle investments, infrastructure and vehicle commitments.
The company is positioning its app as a commercial platform where customers can book autonomous rides supplied by technology partners. That strategy allows Uber to participate in the robotaxi market while using its existing global customer network.
The wider shift toward aggressive investment and corporate efficiency is also influencing other public companies. Investors recently focused on similar growth-versus-spending questions during the GoPro stock surge following its $285 million Starman deal.
Are the Uber layoffs caused by AI?
Uber has been increasing its use of artificial intelligence and automation, but the company has not said AI directly caused all 3,300 job cuts.
The reasons publicly emphasized for this restructuring are organizational complexity, management layers, small teams, overlapping responsibilities and the need to redirect resources toward future growth.
Uber stock rises after restructuring announcement
Uber shares gained after details of the restructuring emerged, with investors initially responding positively to plans for a leaner organization and reduced bureaucracy.
The next questions will be where the remaining job cuts fall, how Uber manages its exit from Nigeria and Uganda, what severance affected employees receive and whether the company can reduce costs without slowing growth across ride-hailing, delivery and autonomous vehicles.
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