Uber Technologies, Inc. is cutting a third of the company’s marketing department, laying off 400 employees amid concerns over “overlapping work” and “mediocre results.”
“Many of our teams are too big, which creates overlapping work, makes for unclear decision owners, and can lead to mediocre results.” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an internal email, according to Bloomberg. “As a company, we can do more to keep the bar high, and expect more of ourselves and each other.”
While the company will maintain a workforce of over 20,000 globally, the marketing department will be reduced from 1,200 to 800 globally.
In a separate internal email, according to the Los Angeles Times, Jill Hazelbaker, who took over the now-consolidated public relations and marketing departments, said that she’s “consistently heard that we have too many people with overlapping mandates … we are not moving at speed or delivering the results the business needs.” She also cited an internal survey pointing out that “deep dissatisfaction” within the marketing team was the lowest score of any team in the company.
Uber went public in early May and has fluctuated around the mid-$40-per-share mark, which Forbes says has investors worried that Uber’s growth has slowed. After the news, Uber’s stock fell 1.44%. Competitor Lyft, however, continues to have a higher stock price than Uber despite a slight dip after the announced exit of their recently hired COO Jon McNeill.
Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
