Post-Purchase, Uber Lays Off 185 Former Postmates Workers

Uber laid off around 185 people from the Postmates division as of Thursday (Jan. 21), as the ridesharing company continues trying to weather the pandemic, The New York Times (NYT) reported.

The layoffs will include the bulk of the Postmates team, including Founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann. That information came from people who spoke with NYT anonymously.

Some of the higher-ups at the company will leave with multi-billion-dollar exit packages, and some employees might see reduced compensation packages, NYT reported. Others will be asked to leave or serve out the end of their contract positions. That could result in more exits in the next few months.

Uber’s cuts have come as the company is working on integrating its Uber Eats food delivery service with Postmates. The Postmates brand and app will stay separate, but much of the behind-the-scenes infrastructure will be melded with Uber Eats, NYT reported, and supported by Uber Eats employees. Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty, global head of Uber Eats, will head up the combined business.

Matt Kallman, an Uber spokesperson, said the company had made the cuts, NYT reported.

“We are so grateful for the contributions of every Postmates team member,” Kallman said, according to NYT. “While we are thrilled to officially welcome many of them to Uber, we are sorry to say goodbye to others. We are so excited to continue to build on top of the incredible work this remarkable team has already accomplished.”

Postmates was bought out by Uber for $2.65 billion in 2020, PYMNTS reported. The deal came as food delivery services were consolidating, particularly as the pandemic had boosted the use of such services. Uber acquired Postmates after the company failed to buy GrubHub due to antitrust concerns.