Uber sacks 400 as growth slips off the road

Struggling financially after a lacklustre initial public offering (IPO) in May, global ride-hailing major Uber is laying off 400 staffers from its 1,200-member marketing team globally, as it aims to cut costs and streamline operations.

Jill Hazelbaker, senior vice president of marketing and public affairs at Uber and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees on Monday that the marketing team would have a more centralised structure, according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch.

The reorganised marketing team would be under the leadership of Mike Strickman, vice president of performance marketing, who joined from TripAdvisor a month ago and another to-be-hired head of global marketing.

"Many of Uber's teams are 'too big, which creates overlapping work, makes for unclear decision owners, and can lead to mediocre results'," Khosrowshahi was quoted as saying in the report late Monday.

The company's latest public global headcount was 24,494 global employees as of March 31.

Uber, that would report its Q2 earnings next week, had its slowest growth in Q1 and lost $1 billion.

The ride-hailing giant has had a rocky start after it became publicly traded company.

When it issued its initial public offering in May, its stock fell by nearly 8 per cent.

Since then its shares have hovered around its $45 IPO price. The company has also seen three board members step down, along with its chief operating officer and chief marketing officer, according to the CNET.

Khosrowshahi has been rejigging the team and recently, the company announced the retirement of COO Barney Harford and Chief Marketing Officer Rebecca Messina.

Meanwhile, San Francisco-based transportation network company Lyft's COO Jon McNeill is also stepping down barely four months after the company went public.

( With inputs from IANS )