- Uber is closing its Los Angeles office, reportedly laying off about 80 staff members.
- According to the Los Angeles Times, the staff were informed, without warning, that their jobs would be shifted to Manila in the Philippines.
- The ride-hailing giant has reportedly culled more than 1,000 workers since going public last May.
- Earlier this month, Uber revised its own estimate for when it’d become profitable, from 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2020.
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Uber is closing its Los Angeles office, reportedly laying off about 80 staff members.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the office’s staff were informed — without warning — that their jobs would be shifted to Manila in the Philippines.
The newspaper obtained a recording of the meeting in which the bad news was delivered. Ruffin Chevaleau, the head of Uber’s Phoenix center of excellence (Uber’s term for a customer-support office), was the person tasked with delivering it.
“We have decided to close the downtown LA office and we will be moving the outreach and innovation work to our Manila COE” — center of excellence — “where we can continue to support the business as it grows,” she reportedly said.
“I know that this is a shock. This meeting is to inform you all that today is the last day in this office,” she added.
Chevaleau also reportedly told the staff they would receive severance packages, could apply for other roles at Uber, and would have their relocation covered if they found jobs in other Uber offices.
Uber has reportedly culled more than 1,000 workers since going public last May as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi looks to prevent what he’s referred to as “duplicate work.”
Khosrowshahi also revised Uber’s profitability forecast earlier this month, saying the company expected to become profitable in the fourth quarter of 2020 rather than in 2021.
Although Uber made $997 million in 2018 thanks to a one-time impact of selling its international businesses, the firm has been consistently unprofitable despite being the world’s biggest ride-hailing app.