Uber to shut down regional headquarters in Singapore

Uber is shutting down its Asia-Pacific hub in Singapore as it winds down 45 offices globally and lays off 3,000 more employees in a business resizing exercise, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in an email to employees on Monday.

Uber clarified then that “Singapore is a non-operational market” for them, and that the hub manages operations in nine regional countries, including Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and Australia.

Fast forward to today (May 19), Uber announced that it will be moving out of its APAC headquarters in Singapore within the next 12 months as its business has been badly impacted by the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

The company said that trip requests had plummeted 80% globally in April, but were slowly recovering.

The company will be reducing investments in non-core projects and winding down its Incubator and AI Labs initiatives as part of its efforts to weather the coronavirus pandemic, said the chief executive.

He stated that the company has seen a 80% fall in its ride-hailing business, which is its main profit driver, amidst the crisis. However, he noted that UberEats is “doing great.”

“I will caution that while Eats growth is accelerating, the business today doesn’t come close to covering our expenses,” said the CEO.

The company did not reveal where its new Asia-Pacific headquarters will be, instead saying in a statement that it intends to move its operational headquarters from Singapore in the next 12 months to a new location in the region, and it is finalising the details which it will share soon.