Uber confirms a hiring freeze in the US and Canada as the ride-hailing giant ramps up cost-cutting efforts (UBER)

• Uber has paused hiring for engineering roles in the US and Canada, it confirmed on Monday. 
• The move follows a 400-person layoff at the end of July. 
• Last week, the company reported second-quarter earnings that fell short of investor expectations and sent the stock plummeting. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

After burning through more than $5.2 billion in the second-quarter, Uber's third-quarter appears to be marked by significant cost-cutting measures.

The ride-hailing confirmed to Business Insider on Monday that it has temporarily paused hiring for some engineering roles in the United States and Canada. Yahoo Finance first reported the hiring freeze.

"We are continuing to aggressively hire talent, including many engineers, all over the world," a spokesperson said in an email. "In the US and Canada, we were ahead of our hiring plans, so we temporarily hit pause on some teams while we ensure we're being both effective and efficient in staffing against our strategic priorities."

Despite the location-specific hiring pause, more than 1,200 roles are still open on Uber's careers website, including 149 engineering roles.

News of the hiring freeze comes less than a month after Uber laid off 400 marketing roles in offices around the world. In an email to staff, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the culling was designed to trim excess from teams that had become bloated in the company's first decade.

Read more: Uber marketing employees describe a 'bloodbath' when the company laid off 400 employees in more than a dozen countries

Last week, Uber reported second-quarter earnings that fell short of investor expectations, sending the stock plummeting as much as 8% Those steep losses extended into Monday, where the stock is a few cents shy of a new all-time low price near $37.

Are you an Uber employee? Got a news tip? Get in touch with this reporter at grapier@businessinsider.com. Secure contact methods, including Signal, are available. here. 

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