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posted by janrinok on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the chilly-drive dept.

Uber is freezing hiring for software engineers and product managers across its US and Canadian workforce, the company acknowledged to Bloomberg on Friday. The shift was reported by Yahoo earlier in the day. The freeze does not apply to Uber's autonomous vehicle and freight shipping divisions.

The news comes a day after Uber reported second quarter operating losses of $5.4 billion—a new record for the company. That figure exaggerates Uber's quarterly burn rate because it includes more than $4 billion in one-time charges related to Uber's initial public offering. Still, excluding IPO-related charges still leaves around $1.2 billion in operating losses, worse than the $1 billion the firm lost in the first quarter.

Uber recently laid off 400 marketing workers. According to Yahoo, Uber employees are worried that this could be a prelude to broader cuts as the company's struggles to stem its losses.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:00AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:00AM (#878565)

    If they're not turning a profit now, then they likely can't ever. They're paying virtually nothing for the drivers' time as it is. I'm not sure how they turn a profit without raising rates. But, the only reason anybody uses them is because they're cheaper than taxis.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:13AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:13AM (#878607)

    Unless you're living in NYC, another reason people may use them is because they are the only driver service available at reasonable cost.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:28PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:28PM (#878887)

      They pay 6 cents a mile on top of the cost of operating the car. That's not a sustainable business model. And even at that they're losing tons of money each quarter. They undercut the cost of taxi service by paying sub minimum wages to the drivers. At some point, the money will run out, regardless of whether or not people are willing to pay the cost of professional cabbies.

      I personally would not consider it to be a reasonable cost when it's not even making enough money to break even. Initially they didn't even have insurance.

      • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday August 12 2019, @07:55PM

        by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday August 12 2019, @07:55PM (#879352) Journal

        Yeah, but (assuming your numbers are good and I don't doubt them) they cut out that 6 cents a mile and take advantage of fleet maintenance on a fleet of no-driver cars and does that change the numbers given how many miles they drive? That's a serious question but I don't want to chase the numbers.
        And for the moment while they are losing money it is also on the backs of their employees er, contractors, who think they're getting a hell of a deal in what they're paid not really realizing they're burning their asset while doing so. (Then again, for people who do it as a second job they may look to the first job to be paying for the cost of their car anyway, which is how a friend of mine who drives for them rationalized it. "I've got a car already and have to have one, so why not put it to use part time?")

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