Founder hits back over ‘shameful’ Uber ousting

FORMER Uber boss Travis Kalanick has branded efforts to oust him from his company’s board ‘a public and personal attack’.

The 40-year-old hit back at Benchmark, the venture capital firm that was an early investor in Uber, after it launched a legal bid to remove him as a director.

Kalanick accused his critics of plotting against him when he was battling a series of scandals as chief executive of the taxi firm.

His lawyers claimed Benchmark pushed him to resign less than two weeks after his mother’s funeral.

‘Benchmark executed its plan at the most shameful of times: immediately after Kalanick experienced a horrible personal tragedy,’ they said.

They also allege Benchmark threatened to launch a public campaign against Kalanick if he refused to step aside.

They have called on courts to dismiss the firm’s lawsuit against the Uber founder, who quit as chief executive in June. Meanwhile, Benchmark accuses Kalanick of withholding important information from the board as he negotiated new rules that allowed him to appoint three extra members – of which he is now one. Kalanick’s lawyers dismissed this as a ‘fabrication’.

Benchmark could not be reached for comment.