Uber Dials Back New Engineering Hires

Facing losses, San Francisco-based Uber is instituting a tech hiring freeze among other cost-savings measures, Bloomberg reported.

The company suspended new software engineer hires as well as product managers since those departments had already reached employment capacity, an Uber spokesman told Bloomberg on Friday (Aug. 9). Uber’s freight and autonomous vehicles businesses are not affected by the freeze.

“We are continuing to aggressively hire talent, including many engineers, all over the world,” the spokesman said. “We temporarily hit pause on some teams while we ensure we’re being both effective and efficient in staffing against our strategic priorities.”

In emails sent to job interviewees, Uber recruiters explained “there have been some changes” and the opportunity has been “put on hold for now,” according to emails reviewed by Yahoo Finance.

Since Uber’s May IPO, stock is down 11 percent, and news of the hiring freeze comes on the heels of a disappointing second quarter for the rideshare giant. The company missed revenue expectations and posted its biggest net loss ever — 5.24 billion.

Uber said at the end of July it was cutting 400 marketing employees around the world, a number that represents one-third of its employees. Uber has 25,000 employees in total. Half of its workforce is based in the U.S.

The employment moves suggest Uber is being more cautious about headcount after years of rapid growth. Before the layoffs, there were about 1,200 people in the marketing department. The company has faced a lot of scrutiny from Wall Street since its IPO.

The moves are also attempts by the company to streamline the way it works and to reduce costs. There has been turnover on the Uber board and in the C-suite. Ryan Graves, who was the company’s first employee and CEO, left in May. In the middle of July, Arianna Huffington, who founded Thrive Global, and Matt Cohler, a venture capitalist, both left as well. Graves and Huffington were a part of the ousting of former Uber leader Travis Kalanick.