{
  "id": 1599254,
  "title": "Uber COO says there's a downside to being at the top",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/uber-coo-says-theres-a-downside-to-being-at-the-top",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-18T00:44:21.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-innovation-new-businesses-growth-autonomous-vehicles-andrew-macdonald-2026-8"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Uber's Chief Operating Officer Andrew Macdonald has stated that large companies like Uber face a challenge when it comes to innovation. The company's massive scale, with over 200 million users and a $250 billion annual gross bookings, can make it difficult to innovate, as employees become \"fat\" on resources and new ideas are swallowed up by existing businesses. To address this, Uber has launched a program called Growth Bets to incubate new business ideas. Macdonald also highlighted Uber's significant investments in autonomous vehicles, including partnerships with companies like Waymo and the launch of Uber Autonomous Solutions. Additionally, Uber has partnered with drone-delivery startup Zipline to offer drone deliveries for Uber Eats customers, targeting one million daily deliveries by 2029.",
  "summary": "Uber COO Andrew Macdonald said the company's massive scale makes it harder to build new businesses even with a lot of resources.",
  "key_points": [
    "Uber COO Andrew Macdonald warns large companies face innovation challenges",
    "Uber's Growth Bets program incubates new business ideas",
    "Uber partners with Waymo, Zipline for autonomous vehicles and drone deliveries"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Uber's massive scale creates an innovation challenge, as employees become complacent and new ideas struggle to emerge, prompting the company to launch initiatives like Growth Bets to stay ahead.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}