American multinational ride-hailing company Uber Technologies on Wednesday laid off 40 percent of its employees in Egypt due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to two former employees and another employee who still works for the company’s Egypt office.
The number of Uber staff in Egypt usually ranges between 650 and 700 individuals, the employees said.
Uber has announced the cancellation of 3700 full-time jobs worldwide, and has laid off 17 percent of its total employees at the company’s global offices in 46 countries.
A company spokesperson refused to discuss the details of the layoffs in Egypt.
Egypt, with a population of over 100 million, is the largest market in the Middle East for taxi reservation services, and was among the 10 largest markets for Uber globally.
Uber has been continuing to run its transportation services in Egypt during the daytime in the month of Ramadan.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
