Uber Technologies Inc. disclosed in a regulatory filing today that it plans to lay off about 3,700 staffers, or about 14% of its last reported total headcount of 26,900 employees.

The cuts are the latest in a string of workforce reductions to hit prominent Silicon Valley startups since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Airbnb Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to let go a quarter of its staff, while electric scooter LimeBike Inc. earlier terminated 100 positions.

The layoffs at Uber mainly affect its customer support and recruiting teams. In an internal memo obtained by CNBC, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi suggested that the company may have to make additional cost cuts to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic.

“This is one part of a broader exercise to make the difficult adjustments to our cost structure (team size and office footprint) so that it matches the reality of our business (our bookings, revenue and margins),” Khosrowshahi  wrote. “We are looking at many scenarios and at each and every cost, both variable and fixed, across the company. You can expect we will have a further, final update for you within the next two weeks.”

Other tech companies have turned to outside funding to help sustain their business through the pandemic. Airbnb recently raised $2 billion in debt and Lime is reportedly negotiating a funding round with Uber, which would buy a $170 million stake. 

For its part, Uber had cash reserves of about $10 billion as of February that it can draw on to sustain operations amid the slump in its core ride-hailing business. Khosrowshahi told investors in March that even if ride-hailing revenues were to drop 80% this year, the company would still have enough financial runway to cover 2020.

Uber said in its regulatory filing today that it expects to take a charge of about $20 million for the workforce reduction. The company also disclosed Khosrowshahi will forgo his base salary for the rest of the year. 

Photo: Pixabay