BUMPY RIDE
UBER EXECUTIVE EXODUS ACCELERATES AS STAR HIRE QUESTIONS LEADERSHIP.
NEW YORK• The number of executive departures from Uber is growing.
Jeff Jones, Uber’s president of ride-sharing, has left the company after just six months, Uber said Sunday. In addition, Brian McClendon, vice- president of maps and business platform at Uber, also plans to leave at the end of the month.
The men are exiting Uber under different circumstances. Jones, poached from Target to be Uber’s No. 2 executive, resigned after the ride- sharing company’s chief, Travis Kalanick, said he needed leadership help and began a search for a chief operating officer.
McClendon is departing amicably from Uber and will be an adviser to the company. In a statement, he said he was moving back to Kansas to explore politics.
The departures add to the executive exodus from Uber this year. Raffi Krikorian, a well-regarded director in Uber’s self- driving division, left the company last week, while Gary Marcus, who joined Uber in December after Uber acquired his company, left this month. Uber also asked for the resignation of Amit Singhal, a top engineer who failed to disclose a sexual harassment claim against him at his previous employer, Google, before joining Uber. Ed Baker, another senior executive, left this month as well.
Jones did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement to Recode, he said, “The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber.”
Jones was in charge of the company’s branding, customer support and operations divisions. His exit is problematic for Uber, as many current and former employees had seen him as a natural successor or counterpart to Kalanick. Investors and the company’s board of directors were particularly keen on stabilizing the troubled company after months of internal turmoil.
Kalanick has faced intense scrutiny for his role in fostering the combative and cutthroat culture of Uber’s internal operations, and has been blamed for not properly dealing with the continuing human resources issues.
After a video of Kalanick getting into a heated argument with a driver surfaced this month, Kalanick said he would seek leadership help, prompting the search for a chief operating officer.
Jones was viewed by many as the “adult in the room” — an executive with experience as a leader at a company that went through a period of intense crisis. He oversaw Target’s marketing division during and after the fallout of a major company data breach in 2013.
McClendon’s departure from Uber is concerning considering how strategically important mapping and geolocation services are to the ride-hailing company.