Car crash: Uber axes another 3,000 jobs, closes 45 offices as punters snub app during coronavirus lockdown

Uber has let another 3,000 people go after axing 3,700 earlier this month amid the coronavirus pandemic. That's about 30 per cent of its 22,000-strong workforce slashed in a month. As people worldwide hunker down at home to curb the spread of the COVID-19 bio-nasty, Uber’s ride-hailing app has taken a substantial hit, with …

[Irongut]

3,000 more people saved from evil!

[Nathan 13]

Every job loss is sad

But as for the company, I fail to have much sympathy as they have engaged in many evil practices over the years.

[DaveDaveDave]

Re: Every job loss is sad

Yes, evil practices like providing cheap, safe cabs in which rapes of drunk female passengers are no longer commonplace. Making cabs affordable to poorer members of society does seem to be the bit that really upsets champagne socialists, though.

[Korev]

Re: Every job loss is sad

Yes, evil practices like providing cheap, safe cabs in which rapes of drunk female passengers are no longer commonplace.

Sure? This story says that Uber execs obtained a rape victim's medical record in an effort to discredit her testimony against the driver...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Every job loss is sad

Oh please - the standard joke is that your Uber driver is going to rape you - which of course has, does, and will happen. Plus they killed that lady with their robot car. And if they really gave a shit about helping the poor (spoiler alert - they don't), they'd pay their drivers more.

[DaveDaveDave]

Re: Every job loss is sad

The 'standard joke' is diametrically opposed to reality, though. Pretty obviously, the tracking involved with Uber makes attacks vanishibgly rare compared to normal cabs.

[elaar]

Re: Every job loss is sad

"Yes, evil practices like providing cheap, safe cabs in which rapes of drunk female passengers are no longer commonplace"

Cheap - Because they're not licensed or regulated, and their drivers aren't actual employees (hence the huge number of drivers now on universal credit)

Safe - Nope, actually much less safe than licensed cabs according to actual real statistics.

Their drivers are now screwed due to their business model.

What world do you live on?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Every job loss is sad

Uber are a bunch of wankers, but the licensing and regulation depends entirely on where you are. Uber drivers are licensed by TfL in London and by the council in Leeds, for example.

[DaveDaveDave]

Re: Every job loss is sad

They are regulated, and the figures are that you're literally millions of times less likely to be attacked in an Over than a normal cab.

Black cab driver feeling the pinch, hug?

[John Brown (no body)]

Who new?

It's always sad when people lose their jobs, especially in employee unfriendly places such that they get shown the door with little or no compensation, but who knew Uber had so many people they admit to calling employees? I can only imagine that there must be at least an order of magnitude more "independent contractors" with no income too.

[Eat Pineapple]

Soooo.... about those flying taxis

I'm betting they're just gonna pretend they never said anything about that.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/uber-elevate-set-to-take-off-in-australia/11199466

"The rideshare company said test flights were due to start from 2020 and plans were for commercial operations to begin from 2023."

[Anonymous Coward]

AI for hailing a cab?

Seriously?

What does it do? It foresees that I am going to need a cab tomorrow morning at 1030?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: AI for hailing a cab?

The AI is for the bicycle smashing killer Volvos they are building on top of the stolen Waymo IP.

[macjules]

Re: AI for hailing a cab?

Intended for the Hunter-Killer Über Class vehicles they are building.

[maffski]

Re: AI for hailing a cab?

Quite possibly. At least in the sense it might learn Prag Vec are playing a sellout at the Melkweg, which is ending in 15 minutes, so free drivers might like to head over that way.

[Pascal Monett]

All that AI money down the drain

All that effort to steal Google employees and knowledge, the settlement and the infrastructure, and now, poof ! All gone up in smoke.

All those offices all over the world, lots of money spent setting them up and now, poof ! All gone as well.

Looks like Uber was getting a case of too much cash in the bank and started many projects it didn't actually have the money for.

And that means it could be paying drivers better.

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Like webcams, good quality electric bikes will sell out.

[hoola]

Reality

Perhaps the real world is finally starting to catch up with these insanely over valued tech companies that do nothing but burn VC money.

I also find it staggering that they have that many employees to sack.

One can but hope.....

[Chris 239]

Pesonnaly

"each of whom I want to personally thank" - yeah, really!

Redefining the meaning of the word personally!

[Insert sadsack pun here]

Re: Pesonnaly

"Each of whom I want to personally thank...except you, Chris. You're useless, and this whole thing is your fault alone."

[elaar]

So Uber was expecting $100billion at the IPO last year, even though it had never made any money and relied completely on the gig economy and typically less than acceptable labour conditions.

And down they now go after just 3 months of issues, 30% off their actual IPO price. Perhaps companies shouldn't rely on vast amounts of debt and VC funding to carry out stupidly insane expansion goals.

Was it really worth using all that money to fight countries/states/capitals in court? They could have just expanded slower, been a bit nicer, and people may have had more respect for them.