SAN FRANCISCO — Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said the roughly 3,300 corporate jobs the company eliminated earlier this month will ultimately benefit customers through lower ride prices, a promise that follows a familiar pattern among corporations defending mass layoffs, one that has not always held up in practice at other companies.

Uber announced September 2 that it was cutting 10% of its corporate staff, affecting approximately 3,300 positions out of a global workforce of roughly 34,000 employees, in an effort to flatten management layers across the company. The reduction marks Uber's deepest round of job cuts since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference on September 10, Khosrowshahi laid out how the company plans to use the savings generated by the cuts. "We are going to take the savings there and essentially reinvest it back in the business, lowering prices, improving selection, and continuing to invest in our growth program," he told investors. He said separately that the layoffs would generate "savings that we intend to reinvest in growth, innovation, and the capabilities that will matter most over the coming years."

Khosrowshahi indicated that reduced insurance costs would also contribute to the savings being funneled toward lower rider prices. Uber's U.S. mobility insurance costs had increased by more than 50% per ride over the........

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