Uber's CTO, Thuan Pham, will be stepping down from his position because of the company's plan to layoff 20% of its workers.
According to The Verge's report, Pham will be stepping down as stated by the raid-hailing company in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, April 28. He Pham joined the company in 2013, making him the longest-serving top executive of Uber.
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The Information was the first to report the departure of Uber's CTO. They also said that the executives at Uber are actively planning cost-cutting measures that could involve layoffs of up to 20% of the company's employees to cope with a sharp decline in business because of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the report clarified that the layoffs have not yet been finalized and could be announced in stages over the following weeks.
According to The Information, if the company finalizes its planned layoffs, more than 5,400 out of 27,000 employees of Uber will lose their jobs.
Uber's CTO steps down as the company plans 20% layoffs: 5,400 employees might lose their jobs!
According to The Verge, one of the spokespeople of Uber refused to comment on the prospect of layoffs.
"As you would expect, the company is looking at every possible scenario to ensure we get to the other side of this crisis in a stronger position than ever," said the spokesperson in the report.
Because of the pandemic caused by the viral coronavirus, Uber's ride-hailing business has significantly suffered.
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said in a call with the investors that the company's gross bookings in most major cities were down by almost 70%.
On the other hand, the previous report of The Information stated that Uber's overall business was down to 80% year-on-year. While the company profited from its food delivery division, "Uber eats," it wasn't enough to make up for the losses in its core ride-hailing product.
The Verge clarified that this is not the company's first time to do mass layoffs. Last year, 2019, nearly 1,000 employees were laid off by Uber in its product, engineering, and marketing department to shore up spending and address some of its massive deficits.
In the past months, Uber shares have fallen more than 50% because of investor concerns regarding the impact of the pandemic on the company's bookings and a broader market decline.
The resignation of Uber's CTO will be the end of an era for Uber. Pham was the last holdover from the days when the former CEO Travis Kalanick was in charge. Many of the scandals faced by the company forced most of its top leaders to step down, including Kalanick.
"While the work is never done, I feel comfortable hanging up my hat at a time when the Uber Engineering team is at peak productivity, we have built robust system scale and stability, and are well prepared to face the future," said Pham in a statement.
