Kalanick steps aside as Uber begins overhaul
Uber Technologies Inc. CEO Travis Kalanick told employees on Tuesday he will take time away from the company he helped to found, one of a series of measures the ride-hailing company is taking to claw its way out from under a mountain of controversies.
Kalanick’s move comes after a months-long investigation led former US Attorney General Eric Holder, who was hired by Uber to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee publicly accused the company of what she described as brazen sexual harassment.
Uber on Tuesday released the recommendations from that report, which include reducing Kalanick’s sweeping authority and instituting more controls over spending, human resources and the behaviour of managers.
Kalanick, 40, said he needed the time away to grieve for his recently deceased mother and to work on his leadership skills, according to a staff email seen by Reuters. He did not say how long he would be away.
“If we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve,” Kalanick wrote in his email. “During this interim period, the leadership team, my directs, will be running the company.” According to a person familiar with the matter, Kalanick may return to the company whenever he likes.
The company on Tuesday shared with its staff 47 recommendations for management and policy changes that were unanimously adopted by the board on Sunday. Kalanick was not at the meeting, said a person present at the meeting.
The meeting was marred by private equity executive David Bonderman making a sexist remark about women talking too much. He later resigned from the board of directors, calling his comment “careless, inappropriate, and inexcusable”.
The recommendations from Holder’s firm, Covington and Burling, include adding an independent director to the board and considering an independent chair; mandated manager training; and a bigger and more independent audit committee to oversee spending and management. Other recommendations prohibit romances between bosses and their subordinates and create clearer guidelines on the use of drugs and alcohol.
Petrol pump owners on Wednesday called off a proposed strike after oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan assured them that the revised price of petrol and diesel will kick in at 6am every day, instead of midnight as proposed earlier.
The new system is set to take off on Friday.
Fuel pump owners will be told of the revised rate every day at 8pm, but the rate will only be applicable from 6am the next day. This will allow fuel pumps time to feed their machines with the new rate.
A midnight revision, said dealers, would have meant shutting their pumps for a few hours everyday to reflect the revised price, which could have made matters difficult at fuel outlets on highways that remain open throughout the night.
A majority of the nearly 58,000 petrol pumps in India are owned and operated by dealers. And 60-70% of these pumps are on highways, said the All India Petroleum Dealers Association.
“There were some apprehensions that dealers had about the daily revision of petrol and diesel prices. But now it has been resolved,” said oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Indian Oil Corporation said that 87 control rooms will be set up across the country to extend technical help to dealers. The state-run company said the daily price revisions will be communicated through screens at petrol pumps, toll free numbers and mobile apps.