Uber Technologies Inc was once a poster child for Silicon Valley’s unchecked ambition. As recently as this year, the company was promising to usher in a self-driving revolution and popularise flying cars. But on May 18, Uber said it was slashing 3,000 jobs, sidelining extraneous projects and shuttering dozens of offices after the coronavirus slammed its ride-hailing business.
The latest round of job cuts at the company brings the total number to 6,700 since the pandemic’s start, including thousands of layoffs earlier this month in customer support and human resources. The staff reductions now represent about a quarter of Uber’s workforce.