Confirmed: Uber will close its IT center in Vilnius, the ride-hailing service remains | Business

15 minutes already announced on Tuesday that the company decided to close its office in Vilnius.

According to the company’s response received on Wednesday, such an action was not determined by the economic situation or the market situation, nor was the war in Ukraine influencing the decision.

“This decision is aimed at consolidating our engineering resources,” the company’s response reads.

“The company’s goal is to retain as many employees as possible who want to stay at Uber, taking into account the available opportunities and the needs of the company.
This decision will only affect Uber’s technology center in Vilnius, not Uber’s local ride-hailing service business. We are still firmly determined to continue our business in Lithuania and offer people the opportunity to move safely, affordably and reliably with the Uber app.”

The company says it is determined to offer all employees affected by such a decision “other opportunities within the company”. This decision will not affect Uber units in other countries.

The first to announce this news last week was Gergely Oroszas, the author of the most popular technology blog on the Substack platform, The Pragmatic Engineer, which has more than 150,000 followers on the platform. users.

Uber Lithuania Software and Development almost always topped the list of companies paying the highest salaries.

In July of this year, it ranked second among all Lithuanian companies in terms of salary. More than once, according to the amount of paid salaries, it has climbed to the first place.

The median remuneration recorded in the company (before taxes) was 7,415 euros, the average salary was 7,284 euros. The company has 63 employees.

According to G. Orosz, the decision was announced within the company on September 7.

According to G. Orosz’s sources, Uber does not promise to close the office suddenly – it is promised to complete the work by 2023. June Uber will help people who want to move and work in other offices of their choice. The performance evaluation process will be completed in 2023. at the beginning, and the bonuses will be paid around 2023. in March,” G. Oroszas writes in his blog.

Uber has established two companies in Lithuania – in addition to the already mentioned “Uber Lithuania Software and Development”, whose activity is the development of computer software, there is also “Uber Lithuania”, which is more widely known among the population, and is engaged in passenger transportation and taxi services.

It is true that the financial indicators of Uber Lithuania, as well as their popularity, have significantly declined in Lithuania over the past few years.

Requisites.lt according to data, the company’s income in 2021 was 87.2 thousand. euros, and in 2017 – 407 thousand euros. During these years, the company’s income has been consistently decreasing.

Meanwhile, Uber Lithuania Software and Development fared much better financially – in 2021. sales revenue amounted to 6.37 million EUR, profit – 234 thousand. euros.