Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick has told staff that he is taking a break. Uber's board is also reallocating some of Kalanick's responsibilities:
There is no doubt that Travis Kalanick, the billionaire founder of the Uber lift-sharing platform, built a company that is one of the giants of Silicon Valley. However, recent months have seen him make a series of apologies for both his own behaviour and that of members of his leadership team. He has now told staff he is going to take some time away from the firm. He is set to have fewer responsibilities upon his return.
Meanwhile, a board meeting addressing sexual harassment at the company had its own sexist moment just minutes in, captured on audio and leaked to Yahoo! Finance:
While speaking, Huffington pointed out that Uber was adding a woman to its board, Wan Ling Martello.
"There's a lot of data that shows when there's one woman on the board, it's much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board," she said around six minutes into the recording.
"Actually what it shows is it's much likely to be more talking," Uber board member David Bonderman said.
"Oh. Come on, David," Huffington responded.
Also at NYT, TechCrunch, and The Verge.
Previously: Uber's Board is Meeting to Discuss CEO Kalanick Temporarily Stepping Down
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The board of directors at Uber Technologies is meeting today to discuss CEO Travis Kalanick stepping aside for a period, according to reports published this morning by Reuters, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Kalanick taking a leave of absence is one of several recommendations coming out of an internal report on Uber headed up by Eric Holder, who served as Attorney General during the Obama Administration. The Holder inquiry also recommends that Emil Michael, Uber's senior vice president of business, be asked to leave the company, according to the Times.
Uber hasn't publicized today's meeting and didn't respond to requests for comment.
It will be hard to implement the changes unless Kalanick himself goes along with them. Along with two close allies, Reuters reports, Kalanick has voting control of the company. Uber hasn't publicized today's meeting and didn't respond to requests for comment.
Source: ArsTechnica
The Fall of Travis Kalanick Was a Lot Weirder and Darker Than You Thought
A year ago, before the investor lawsuits and the federal investigations, before the mass resignations, and before the connotation of the word "Uber" shifted from "world's most valuable startup" to "world's most dysfunctional," Uber's executives sat around a hotel conference room table in San Francisco, trying to convince their chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick, that the company had a major problem: him.
[...] [A] top executive excused herself to answer a phone call. A minute later, she reappeared and asked Kalanick to step into the hallway. Another executive joined them. They hunched over a laptop to watch a video that had just been posted online by Bloomberg News: grainy, black-and-white dashcam footage of Kalanick in the back seat of an UberBlack on Super Bowl weekend, heatedly arguing over fares with a driver named Fawzi Kamel. "Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit!" Kalanick can be heard yelling at Kamel. "They blame everything in their life on somebody else!"
As the clip ended, the three stood in stunned silence. Kalanick seemed to understand that his behavior required some form of contrition. According to a person who was there, he literally got down on his hands and knees and began squirming on the floor. "This is bad," he muttered. "I'm terrible." Then, contrition period over, he got up, called a board member, demanded a new PR strategy, and embarked on a yearlong starring role as the villain who gets his comeuppance in the most gripping startup drama since the dot-com bubble. It's a story that, until now, has never been fully told.
The article discusses a number of Uber and Kalanick scandals/events, including:
- The #DeleteUber movement following Uber being accused of breaking up an airport taxi strike (which was in protest of President Trump's executive order restricting travel from Muslim countries), as well as Kalanick's decision to join President Trump's business advisory council (and later leave it).
- Susan Fowler's blog post recounting sexual harassment at Uber, and the hiring of former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to investigate the claims.
- The revelation of Uber's Greyball system, which was used to avoid picking up law enforcement and taxi inspectors.
- Uber's purchase of self-driving truck startup Otto, which eventually led key Uber investor Google (Waymo) to sue Uber, seeking billions in damages.
- Kalanick's "inexplicable" support of Anthony Levandowski, who he called his "brother from another mother", even after Levandowski stopped defending Uber in the Waymo v. Uber case.
- Kalanick's apology to the taxi driver Fawzi Kamel, which amounted to a $200,000 payoff.
- A visit to a Seoul escort-karaoke bar that resulted in an HR complaint and a report in The Information.
- Uber's president for Asia-Pacific Eric Alexander obtaining a confidential medical record of passenger who was raped by an Uber driver in Delhi, India. Alexander, Kalanick, and others discussed a theory that their Indian competitor Ola faked/orchestrated the rape.
- Kalanick making his presence known during a "leave of absence" by trying to maintain control over the company and its board.
- Arianna Huffington promoting her wellness company's products while acting as Kalanick's apparent proxy on the board.
- The new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's response to the city of London revoking Uber's operating license.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kaszz on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:44PM (3 children)
Be quick to fetch the popcorn! In time to watch the Ûber ship to go down in intense flames and screams ;-)
Don't forget to blank their stock.
Btw, anyone have their location coordinates? I have this cone shaped thing with a cylinder thing below and it has this configuration terminal that prompts for location data before "commencing"..
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday June 14 2017, @03:05PM (2 children)
Be quick to fetch the popcorn! In time to watch the Ûber ship to go down in intense flames and screams ;-)
Huh? Where'd you get that? That's the problem with this move: it'll likely save the Uber ship from sinking, so we're denied our popcorn moment. I'd rather see him stubbornly stay in his CEO position and guide Uber to certain doom, so that better competitors like Lyft can take over.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @07:29PM (1 child)
Is this true? I know Uber is scrummy and in my personal opinion literally criminal. However, is Lyft and the others better (for following laws, not misrepresenting themselves to the community and to workers, and generally "acting ethically")?
I haven't heard much about Lyft and the others so I assumed they were better, but I'm actually not sure.
(Score: 1) by daver!west!fmc on Wednesday June 14 2017, @08:19PM
From a couple or three months ago.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/the-gig-economy-celebrates-working-yourself-to-death [newyorker.com]
TL,DR: read the SEO-enhanced link. Features Lyft and Fiverr.
My take on it, Lyft doesn't have quite the same mix of sexism and toxin as Uber, they'd be just as celebratory of a guy who tied a tourniquet on and took one more ride before going to the ER. Or maybe not, that story still wouldn't involve a childbirth.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:47PM (2 children)
Which leg?
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:52PM (1 child)
The third leg? :p
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 14 2017, @02:59PM
It's hard to break something that's limp like a noodle. Easier to just snip it off, and flush it.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @03:35PM
"Each night when I return the cab to the garage, I have to clean the cum off the back seat. Some nights, I clean off the blood."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @04:24PM (3 children)
Regard me as a newcomer that don't know all the facts about Uber. Why all the hate against Uber?
I'm not defending them. I have used their service a couple of times. Here in my third-world country, a cab usually will charge you more than they should, will take the longest path to destination, will charge you a little more at arrival, and will tell you that he does not have any change. And that IF they show up after I calling for one by phone.
All of these problems seems to be solved by Uber. I'm not a troll... please fellow Soylentils, let me know!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:27PM (1 child)
uber is a scummy company that uses scummy tactics. It was started by scummy people and run by scummy people today. They believe laws don't apply to them because they are "on the internet". It's a good idea and all, make it easy for people to freelance their time and automobiles, but the way they did it is... scummy.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 14 2017, @07:19PM
Very concise and correct summary.
Lyft offers the same service, but they've been good at not looking scummy.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 15 2017, @01:42AM
Uber was designed to route around existing regulations and laws (kind of like AirBnB). On one hand, this allowed them to make taxis look like dinosaurs and reduce fares. On the other hand, there is little to no transparency in their pricing algorithms and drivers and executives alike have been arrested for violating local laws.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by jrial on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:24PM (1 child)
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:04PM
And what's this UBER thing anyways?
(Score: 1) by justinb_76 on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:27PM
hey now, the white patriarchy ain't gonna smash itself, ya know...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:36PM
But it won't work.