Work cut out for new Uber chief

It is official. Dara Khosrowshahi is the CEO of Uber Technologies. The firm made the announcement late on Tuesday, confirming reports by Bloomberg and others, as well as comments he made to the press.

The selection of Expedia’s outgoing CEO concludes a months-long search to replace Travis Kalanick. Uber took the early part of the week to wrap up negotiations and paperwork, following a contentious yet ultimately unanimous board vote.

Khosrowshahi was the darkhorse candidate and his name did not appear in public, while other high-profile candidates such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Meg Whitman and General Electric chairman Jeffrey Immelt were known to be in the running for the job.

“Dara is the best person to lead Uber into the future, building world-class products, transforming cities and adding value,” Uber said.

Although Khosrowshahi called his new job “the opportunity of a lifetime” in an interview with Bloomberg, he is facing a long list of challenges.

The company is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a quarter. It is staring down two justice department investigations: one is into the company’s Greyball software, which obscured drivers from law enforcement officials, and a second, revealed on Tuesday, into bribes paid to foreign officials.

Benchmark, Uber’s largest shareholder, is locked in a legal fight with Kalanick over the allocation of board seats. To top it off, many of the executive ranks sit empty; there is no chief financial officer, no chief marketing officer and no general counsel.

THE COMPANY IS LOSING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS A QUARTER AND STARING DOWN TWO INVESTIGATIONS

With its $69bn valuation, the firm has effectively made an enormous promise to investors that it will be a once-in-ageneration technology company. There are signs that Uber, despite its many challenges, has a path to achieve its grand ambitions. Ride-hailing and the dream of self-driving cars have already begun to transform the transport industry.

In 2016, the ride-hailing company generated $20bn in bookings — the total value of fares paid out to drivers— and that number is growing each quarter.