Uber shuts down operations in five major cities

Uber Technologies Inc said on Tuesday it won’t operate its ride-hailing app in Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Islamabad anymore. “Uber remains committed to Pakistan — we will continue to serve these five cities with our subsidiary brand Careem and continue to operate the Uber app in Lahore,” the company said in a statement. It’ll continue to offer services in Lahore with new product launches to “support earners during these difficult times”. Uber acquired Careem, its rival company headquartered in Dubai, for $3.1 billion in 2019. It vowed to run the two apps simultaneously at the time of acquisition — an assertion that most sector analysts expressed doubts about. “They’ll ultimately have to shut down one of the two apps. Today’s decision was inevitable,” said one industry insider while speaking to Dawn on Tuesday.