Uber CEO Kalanick resigns under pressure

Board directors welcome decision

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, (AFP): Uber’s embattled chief executive Travis Kalanick has resigned, yielding to pressure from investors seeking to clean up a toxic corporate culture at the fast-growing ridesharing group.

Kalanick had announced an indefinite leave of absence a week earlier following the release of a report on Uber’s workplace troubles by former US attorney general Eric Holder.

His departure announced late Tuesday caps a rocky period for the global ridesharing giant, which has been roiled by reports of a cutthroat workplace culture, harassment, discrimination and questionable business tactics to thwart rivals.

“I love Uber more than anything in the world, and at this difficult moment in my personal life, I have accepted the investors’ request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight,” Kalanick said in a statement.

The Uber board of directors welcomed the “bold decision,” say it marked a “sign of his devotion and love for Uber.”

Kalanick, who has been the driving force behind Uber’s massive global expansion and whose brash style had made him a liability, will remain on the board with a large voting stake in the company, whose $68 billion valuation makes it the world’s largest venture-backed startup.

The pioneering company has been facing pressure to rein in a no-holds-barred management style led by Kalanick and to reform its workplace culture.

Investors had been growing impatient with Kalanick despite a pledge to implement reforms.

In a letter, titled “Moving Uber Forward,” key investors told Kalanick that he must immediately leave as part of a necessary change in leadership, The New York Times reported.

Following Kalanick’s announcement, early Uber investor Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital offered praise for the departing CEO.

“There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world,” Gurley tweeted. Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research said in a blog post that Kalanick’s resignation “leaves an enormous vacuum at the top of the company,” but that “this is all for the best long term, even if it’s messy in the short term.