What does the future hold for Uber after the latest round of job cuts?

“Maybe we can wait this damn virus out,” wrote Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber chief executive, in an email to staff on Monday.

“I wanted there to be a different answer. Let me talk to a few more CEOs… maybe one of them will tell me some good news, but there simply was no good news to hear.”

The note laid out the reasons that Uber was laying off 3,000 more staff. Rides on its main Uber app were down 80pc as cities went into lock down and people stop travelling . It came just weeks after Uber reduced its 20,000-strong workforce by 3,700.

Coronavirus has laid bare the fragile fundamentals of Uber, the ride-hailing company that just over a year ago was going public and threatening to conquer the world of transport in a blockbuster listing worth $82bn (£67bn).

In the first three months of the year, the business reported a new loss of $2.9bn. Its ride-hailing arm stopped growing and declined 3pc year-over-year.

“The seemingly inexorable rise of Uber and ride-hailing services has taken a hit,” says David Bailey, a business professor and automotive industry expert at Birmingham Business School. “People will likely commute less and work at home where possible, and recreational and entertainment outings will still be limited - both will hit ride use.”

For Khosrowshahi, seen as a steady hand to lead Uber after the chaos of the final Travis Kalanick years, steering Uber through coronavirus will be a career defining challenge. But can he succeed?

Khosrowshahi had few options when it came to cutting costs. Uber has in the region of $9bn in cash and short term investments - that is down from $10.9bn in December. While these reserve would still last several quarters, that was before a cliff-drop in ride-hailing income - around $2.5bn per quarter. That income is likely down as much as four-fifths, although Khosrowshahi said it had started to recover as lockdowns eased.

“As a high growth business, Uber has no choice but to adapt rapidly to the changing conditions, which is reflected in the layoffs,” says Clement Thibault, an industry consultant at SimilarWeb.

Uber had already been shifting its focus towards a measure of “profitability” before the crisis. Khosrowshahi had aimed for a profit by the final quarter of 2020.

But in its 11 years, Uber has never made a profit and has previously spent billions subsidising the cost of its ride-hailing service. In its last results, Uber used a vague adjusted earnings metric to define its “profit” of $581m for its core taxi-hailing business. But its take rate, the money it keeps for itself on each journey, has remained flat and has fallen overall since last summer, even before coronavirus-related costs.

Increasingly, Uber had aimed to become “the operating system of everyday life” according to Khosrowshahi. This had seen its huge investment into takeaway delivery and new bets a workplace app for freelancers - Uber Works - as well as its longer term plans in AI and autonomous cars.

Now, its more ambitious plans are likely to be culled entirely. It is winding down its AI Lab and start-up Incubator. The company will look at strategic alternatives for Uber Works. It has already moved to merge its e-bikes business, Jump, with Lime, in which it is a key investor.

It will also shut 45 offices. Uber said in a filing it expects the combined cut backs to save $1bn this year.

Even as it refocuses, Uber remains deeply vulnerable to long term exposure to coronavirus and the potential consumer changes it might bring.

Bailey, of Birmingham University, notes: “There will likely be a shift away from public transport and ride hailing services given concerns over health and we will likely see more private car use, cycling and the use of e-bikes and e-scoooters. Again this will hit Uber's business model.”

Paul Lehair, an investment manager at Albion VC and a former employee at travel start-up Citymapper, said: “At some point we may go back to normal. You could argue public transport will suffer for longer, and when people start moving again they might use Uber.

“Overall, their unit economics have been on tight margins. That is what they will have to focus on a lot more.”

Uber also has a lot riding on its food delivery arm, but that remains hugely loss-making, shedding $313m in the last quarter.

Despite the huge losses, investors have continued to issue votes of confidence to Khosrowshahi. Uber’s share price is up just over 8pc so far this year, a sign Wall Street sees it riding out the crisis.

But even with this vote of faith, its main rides business remains on a knife edge in terms of income. Its thin margins could be irreparably wiped out by coronavirus. Chief executive Khosrowshahi did not sugarcoat the challenge ahead in his note to staff.

“Having learned my own personal lesson about the unpredictability of the world from the punch-in-the-gut called Covid-19, I will not make any claims with absolute certainty regarding our future.”