400 Uber employees sacked as growth slips off the road

After a lacklustre initial public offering (IPO) in May, global ride-hailing major Uber has decided to lay off as many as 400 staffers from its 1,200-member marketing team globally. According to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch, Jill Hazelbaker, senior vice president of marketing and public affairs at Uber and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees on Monday that the marketing team would have a more centralised structure.

The reorganised marketing team would be under the leadership of Mike Strickman, vice president of performance marketing, who joined from TripAdvisor a month ago and another to-be-hired head of global marketing, said the report, quoting Khosrowshahi as saying "Many of Uber`s teams are `too big, which creates overlapping work, makes for unclear decision owners, and can lead to mediocre results`." 

As of March 31, the company`s latest public global headcount was reportedly 24,494 employees globally. Uber, that would report its Q2 earnings next week, had its slowest growth in Q1 and lost $1 billion. The ride-hailing global giant has had a rocky start after it became publicly traded company. 

When it issued its initial public offering in May, its stock fell by nearly 8 per cent. Since then, shares of the company have hovered around its $45 IPO price. The company has also witnessed three board members step down, along with its chief operating officer and chief marketing officer, said CNET report.

Khosrowshahi has been rejigging the team and recently, the company announced the retirement of COO Barney Harford and Chief Marketing Officer Rebecca Messina, said IANS report.