Report: Uber spent $200K a year on balloons for staff anniversaries; stickers to be used instead

As part of their effort to cut back on costs, Uber will stop honoring their staff's work anniversary with giant helium balloons, which cost the company over $200,000 a year. Instead, the company will be giving stickers to employees on their "Uberversaries," according to a report by Crunchbase.

The report comes two years after CNN highlighted anniversary balloons that "dotted" Uber's San Francisco headquarters. It was an indicator, CNN wrote in 2017, that "the company is adding an enormous amount of new employees."

Times are different now: Uber reported a massive second quarter loss to the tune of $5.24 billion this week, only months after its initial public offering.

At the end of July, 400 employees in the company's marketing team – about a third of its employees – were laid off after a leadership transition.

“It’s not only a great way to find dollars we can invest back into the business, it’s also more environmentally friendly,” a message by Uber CFO Nelson Chai said, according to Crunchbase.

Uber did not comment when asked for a statement by USA TODAY.

Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote