Uber's chief tech officer resigns as it considers 20% job cuts amid coronavirus

Company’s core ride-hailing business is reportedly down 80%

Uber cut more than 1,100 jobs in its marketing, product and engineering teams last year. Bloomberg

Uber's chief technology officer and its longest serving senior executive, Thuan Pham, resigned as the company mulls widespread job cuts to weather the coronavirus outbreak.

Mr Pham, who is also the head of the engineering team, will leave on May 16, Uber revealed in a filing on the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

“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,” Mr Pham said.

“We have built robust system scale and stability, and are well prepared to face the future.”

Mr Pham's departure comes as the company is looking to trim 20 per cent of its workforce to deal with the coronavirus that has severely dented demand for its ride-hailing business.

The layoffs, which will be carried out in stages in the coming weeks, could lead to the company letting go of more than 5,400 employees, The Information, a US digital media company, reported.

The San Francisco-based company’s core business in recent weeks is down about 80 per cent compared to the same period last year, the report said.

"Cutting 5,000 people could save Uber close to $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) annually on salaries and associated expenses," The Information reported.

The ride-hailing giant has not confirmed the number of jobs it would slash.

"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," the company’s spokesman said in a statement, avoiding any comment on the possible cuts in jobs.

Uber‘s engineering group, which employs 3,800 people, could bear the brunt as nearly 800 of the proposed job cuts will be from this division.

Uber, which is still not profitable, is not new to mass layoffs.

The company cut more than 1,100 jobs in its marketing, product and engineering teams last year in an effort to reduce its cash burn.

Last month, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi told analysts that even if an 80 per cent decline in Uber’s rides business continued until the end of the year, as a worst case scenario, the company would still have $4bn in cash.

As its ride-hailing business takes a hit, the company is pinning its hopes on its food delivery business.

“Certainly our rides business to the extent that people stop leaving their house will take a hit, while our business Eats will probably actually benefit,” he said at the Morgan Stanley 2020 Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco.

The Uber Eats business in recent weeks has been growing by "at least 70 per cent compared to last year and one of its biggest costs – bonuses for drivers – has shrunk considerably as such labour becomes cheaper", said The Information.

Earlier this month the company withdrew its financial forecast for 2020 and said it would write down about $2bn in investments due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company is slated to report earnings for the first quarter of this year on May 7.