Uber boss forced to resign
Investors exerted pressure at a critical stage for the company
TRAVIS Kalanick, the combative and troubled chief executive of ride-hailing giant Uber, has resigned under pressure from investors at a pivotal time for the company.
Uber’s board confirmed the move early yesterday, saying that Kalanick is taking time to heal from the death of his mother in a boating accident, “while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber’s history”. He will remain on the Uber Technologies board.
The move comes as Uber, the world’s largest ride-hailing company, was having trouble morphing from a free-wheeling start-up into a mature company that can staunch losses and post consistent profits. After eight years of phenomenal growth by upending the taxi business, Uber had reached a point where the culture that created the company had become an albatross that threatened to kill it.
In a statement, the 40-year-old cofounder said his resignation would help Uber go back to building “rather than be distracted with another fight”, an apparent reference to efforts on the board to oust him.
It was unclear who would replace Kalanick.
His resignation came after a series of costly missteps under Kalanick that damaged Uber’s reputation, including revelations of sexual harassment in its offices, allegations of trade secrets theft and a federal investigation into efforts to mislead local government regulators.
On Tuesday, the company embarked on a 180-day programme to change its image by allowing riders to give drivers tips through the Uber app, something Kalanick had resisted. Drivers have said that Kalanick didn’t value their labour, even though it was the heart of the San Francisco-based company.
Uber’s board said that Kalanick had “always put Uber first.”
But under Kalanick, the company developed a reputation for ruthless tactics that have occasionally outraged government regulators, drivers, riders and employees. The company often flouted city regulations for taxi companies with a culture that encouraged “principled confrontation”.
The company’s hard-charging style has led to legal trouble. The US Justice Department is investigating Uber’s past usage of fraudulent software designed to thwart local government regulators who wanted to check on whether Uber was carrying passengers without permission.
A key step towards Kalanick’s downfall came in February, when former Uber engineer Susan Fowler’s post caught the board’s attention and brought outside investigations that led to the firing of 20 people, including some managers. Former attorney-general Eric Holder conducted one of the probes, finding that the male-dominated Uber didn’t have the most basic policies to protect workers from harassment.
Vicious temper
Also, Kalanick lost his temper in an argument with an Uber driver who was complaining about pay. The profanity-laced confrontation was caught on a video that surfaced in February. Afterwards, Kalanick said he needed management help and had to grow up. The company began searching for a chief operating officer.
In March, board member Arianna Huffington expressed confidence that Kalanick would evolve into a better leader. But Huffington, a founder of Huffington Post, suggested time might be running out.
He’s a “scrappy entrepreneur”, she said during the call, but one who needed to bring “changes in himself and in the way he leads”.
During the past year, several senior managers left the company, including the president and chief financial officer. Outside experts said the only way to change Uber’s culture was for Kalanick to step aside. But Uber’s ownership and voting structure made it difficult to oust him.