Uber is going through one of the biggest shake-ups in its history. The company is cutting about 3,300 jobs globally, roughly 10% of its entire workforce, while at the same time walking away from two of its oldest markets on the African continent.
The Global Layoffs
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told staff about the cuts in an internal email this week. The plan is to strip out layers of management, shrink small teams, and free up money to put into ride-hailing, delivery, and its growing robotaxi business.
According to the email first seen by Bloomberg, the company wants to cut its number of managers by 20%. Some of those managers won’t lose their jobs outright but will shift into individual contributor roles instead.
Teams with just one or two people are being cut by about half, and staff sitting more than seven layers below Khosrowshahi on the organization’s chart are among those being let go.
Uber is also merging departments that used to run separately. Engineering, science, and delivery teams are being folded together, and the company is combining its delivery operations across restaurants, retail, and its white-label delivery service into one unit.
Remote work is taking a hit too. Going forward, less than 1% of Uber’s staff will be allowed to work remotely, meaning almost everyone will be expected back at a physical office.
READ: AI Push Fuels Tech Layoffs as Meta Plans 8,000 Cuts
In his message to staff, Khosrowshahi said the company’s rapid growth over the past five years had created problems of its own, pointing to extra layers, duplicated coordination, and ownership that had become too spread out for the business at its current size.
Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence estimate the cuts could save Uber somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion a year, though heavier spending on autonomous vehicles may eat into some of that benefit.
The layoffs bring Uber’s headcount down to just under 30,000 people, close to where it stood back in 2021, before its most recent hiring push.
Unsurprisingly, investors reacted well. Uber’s stock rose as much as 2.1% after the news broke, before settling to a smaller gain.
Unlike many large tech companies that have blamed AI spending for recent job cuts, Khosrowshahi did not mention AI directly in his email. Still, the shift toward using more technology to run day-to-day operations is widely seen as part of the thinking behind the restructuring.
What This Means for Kenya and East Africa
While the layoffs are a global story, Uber has also been quietly restructuring its footprint in Africa, and that is where things get more relevant closer to home.
The company confirmed it is shutting down operations in Nigeria and Uganda, effective September 2, 2026. That closes the book on 12 years in Nigeria and 10 in Uganda, two of the earliest markets Uber entered on the continent after launching in Lagos back in 2014.
Uber says the decision is about focusing investment on fewer, larger markets rather than pulling out of Africa altogether. Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa remain active markets for the company.
This follows Uber’s exit from Tanzania in February, which means three East and West African markets have now closed in under a year.
For Kenya, the immediate picture doesn’t change. Uber says it still sees strong growth potential in the region and Nairobi remains one of its active markets. However, there’s a pattern here that is worth watching.
A company that is cutting layers of management worldwide and walking away from markets it has run for over a decade is clearly being more selective about where it puts its money.
Kenya staying on the list of active markets is a good sign for now, but it also means local drivers, riders, and rivals like Bolt and Little are operating in a space where Uber is visibly tightening its belt everywhere else.
