2 of Uber's top executives have reportedly left the company

Reuters/Andrew Kelly

• Uber's top marketing and operations executives are out, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
• Shares of Uber sank about 1.5% in after-hours trading following the news.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Uber's chief marketing and operations executives are out, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

Barney Harford, Uber's chief operating officer since January 2018, and Rebecca Messina, chief marketing officer since October 2018, are both leaving.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced their departures in an email to Uber staff on Friday, according to CNBC. He said the shakeup allows him to have a more direct hand in daily operations.

"Barney and I have agreed that the COO role no longer makes sense, and he's decided to leave Uber," Khosrowshahi said. Barney is a talented businessperson, and I can't thank him enough for all of his contributions in helping get us to and through the IPO."

In 2018, Harford came under fire for his comments about an advertisement that features a mixed-race couple. The New York Times reported in July of that year that Harford voiced concern about "how common" the pairing was in markets where the ad was set to air. He also confused two of the black women in the ad because of similar hairstyles, the paper reported.

Harford later apologised for those comments, saying in a memo obtained by Business Insider that he was "embarrassed" about the insensitive comments.

Messina is leaving the company without major scandals. In an interview with Business Insider in September 2018, the Coca-Cola veteran said she was looking forward to assisting Uber to rid its reputation of a scandal-ridden past.

"There's never really a right time to announce departures or changes like this, but with the IPO behind us, I felt this was a good moment to simplify our org and set us up for the future," Khosrowshahi said in the email.