Ride-hailing giant Uber has been witnessing a series of layoffs across departments of the company due to the coronavirus impact on the business. Recently, the company had announced that it is laying off 3,700 employees globally to save costs.
Following the footsteps of its parent company, Uber’s subsidiary in Middle East Careem has now announced that it will be cutting 536 jobs this week. These cuts represent about 31% of the total workforce at the Dubai-based company.
The announcement follows Uber’s earlier announcement of closing its food delivery business in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries, while its United Arab Emirates operations would move to Careem.
According to a Reuters report, Careem, which operates ride-hailing and delivery businesses primarily in the Middle East, said it was prioritising the security of the company and that the parent company Uber continued to believe in its business model and was committed to the region.
“As we have discussed several times in the last few weeks, the crisis brought on by COVID-19 has put our dream and future impact at significant risk,” Chief Executive Mudassir Sheikha said in a blog on Careem’s website.
Sheikha, who founded the company in 2012, said business was down by more than 80% and that it was “alarmingly unknown” when it would recover.
“In this new reality, the surest way to secure Careem for the long term is to drive towards self-sustainability within a reasonable time frame,” he said.
Careem did not say how much it expected to save from the layoffs or which business unit’s staff had been cut from. However, it said tech-colleagues were protected in relative terms so it could continue to invest in its products.
The company has assured that the affected employees would receive at least three months severance pay, a month of equity vesting and in some cases extended visa and medical insurance, including for family members, until the end of the year.
The Careem BUS mass-transportation operation has also been suspended, it said. Careem has also found “significant savings” from pausing new benefits, it said without disclosing details.
Ride-hailing unicorn Uber bought Careem in 2019 for $3.1 billion.
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