Uber lays off 185 workers at its food delivery service Postmates: Report

Meal delivery has been one bright spot for Uber amid the pandemic, as bookings in its Uber Eats division rose 135 percent year-over-year in the third quarter while its ride-hailing segment dropped 50%

Leading ride-hailing platform Uber has laid off about 185 workers -- about 15 per cent of total workforce -- at its food delivery service Postmates.

Uber acquired Postmates in July last year for $2.65 billion, after it failed to buy rival food delivery service Grubhub.

The company plans to further integrate Postmates' infrastructure within its Uber Eats segment, reports The New York Times.

The latest move will see "Postmates founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann depart the company, along with most of its executive team", the report said on Sunday.

The company said that bookings in its Uber Eats division rose 135 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2020.

Uber Eats now has 560,000 restaurants on its platform, including about 30 per cent of restaurants in the US.

Uber Eats continues to remain behind its rival food delivery service DoorDash, which went public in December.

Zomato last year acquired Uber's Food Delivery Business in India in an all-stock deal worth $350 million or Rs 2,500 crore, Uber had 9.99 per cent stake in the Deepinder Goyal-led food delivery platform.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had said that the Uber Eats team in India has achieved an incredible amount over the last two years.

"India remains an exceptionally important market to Uber and we will continue to invest in growing our local Rides business, which is already the clear category leader," said Khosrowshahi.

--IANS

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