Uber Freight announced on Tuesday that it will be cutting around 150 jobs, which is roughly 3 per cent of its total workforce. As reported by Reuters, this decision is a result of the economic uncertainty currently affecting the demand for shipping services.
As per CNBS, Lior Ron, CEO, Uber Freight, said that the layoffs will impact the digital brokerage team within the division. The unit is focused on its digital brokerage operations that connect shippers with truck drivers looking to transport goods.
Reportedly, Laid-off employees will receive severance packages that include extended healthcare, 2022 bonus payments, outplacement and career support, and immigration services if needed.
This is the first instance of layoffs for the company since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. According to Ron, the logistics market is currently facing challenges which have affected both Uber Freight’s customer base and the industry as a whole. He mentioned that the company had increased hiring in certain areas of the brokerage business last year, expecting a different economic outcome, but the expected volume of business did not materialize.
Despite this, the freight unit, which was launched in 2017 with the goal of matching trucking companies with cargo using the same technology as the ride-hailing service, has seen a significant increase in revenue, with $1.8 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2022, a 336% increase from the previous year.
The layoffs at Uber Freight come after similar cuts at other technology companies such as Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Twitter. In November, DoorDash also laid off 1,250 employees, which was 6 per cent of its workforce, and Lyft had cut 13% of its workforce earlier.
