- Assume 1000 for the apps. - +1000 for backend. - +1000 for infrastructure. - +500 for SRE functions. - +1500 G&A

That leaves us with 16,000 employees who are not in these categories. Supposing Uber operates in 50 major markets that require a team of 50 employees each (political fixers and such). That still leaves 13,500 to account for!

One explanation is that each vertical has this structure and employee count, which means that the 3 or so verticals (rideshare, eats, ??) together account for roughly 19500 employees.

I am not very familiar with Uber. I have only used them for taxis and that too a few years ago.