Careem lays off over 150 employees 

KARACHI: Dubai-based ride-hailing company Careem has laid off about 150 employees to cut losses, MENAbytes reported. 

The layoffs come weeks after its $3.1 billion acquisition by Uber was closed.

In an interview withThe National on Thursday, Careem’s co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha said that cuts are part of the expansion strategy. The cuts were reportedly made in support services like finance, branding, and human resources, mainly from Careem’s headquarters in Dubai. The report had not confirmed the exact number of axed employees but the sources with the knowledge of the development said that it is more than 150. 

Mudassir Sheikha had reportedly told The National: “The expansion strategy will require cost-cutting that will involve the loss of five percent of existing roles and the reassigning of 10 percent of staff to more critical technology development areas.” 

He further claimed: “There are real people involved so these are never light decisions or easy things to undertake. We cannot just keep raising money and keep hiring people to make this thing happen. We have to operate in a slightly more efficient way.”

It has been learnt from multiple sources that services of engineers, product managers, and data scientists have been axed. 

Taking to Twitter, Mudassir Sheikha also announced the develmpment. 

Yesterday we set a new course for @careem to become the region’s everyday SuperApp. Many colleagues got new roles but unfortunately some roles had to be removed. It was hard to say goodbye to colleagues but was necessary to expand the scope of Careem’s impact on the region. 1/2

— Mudassir Sheikha (@MudassirSheikha) January 24, 2020

No words can express the deep gratitude that we feel towards these colleagues. They believed in us, they fought with us from the trenches, they inspired us. I know they will play a meaningful role in the next few unicorns of the region. Hire or partner with them if you can! 2/2

— Mudassir Sheikha (@MudassirSheikha) January 24, 2020