Taxi for Mr Uber
Cab giant’s billionaire founder quits after sex harassment rows
The shock resignation this week of Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick comes as the success of the £58billion global cab giant stalls.
Kalanick, who has a personal fortune of nearly £5billion, remains on the board and points to family circumstances – his mother died in a boating accident less than a month ago – as the explanation for his departure.
The tycoon, who launched the app in 2009 with pal Garrett Camp, insisted: “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 Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight.”
But others insist the “taxi for Kalanick”, who was already on a leave of absence, followed pressure from worried shareholders.
The firm suffered £2.2billion losses last year alone. Reports in the US claim five major backers demanded the 40-year-old’s departure.
The wheels seemed to be coming off amid allegations of sexual harassment, a “bro culture” of sexism, homophobia and misogyny, and claims of foul play and bad management.
There have also been constant allegations of poor treatment and under payment of its drivers.
The US-based company was forced to pay £16million in January to settle allegations it had conned drivers into working for it with false promises about earnings.
Kalanick was caught on camera shouting at his own driver, who complained about his pay, yelling: “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own s***...
“They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck!” He later issued an apology. Over the past year especially, a sequence of disturbing complaints damaged Uber’s reputation.
One manager is said to have groped female employees’ breasts at a company retreat in Las Vegas, another threatened to hit a worker with a baseball bat for their poor performance, and a director was accused of homophobic abuse.
Californian Kalanick allegedly “joked” to a reporter in 2014 that he nicknamed the company “Boober” as it made him more attractive to women. Then there was the “Miami letter” Kalanick wrote to employees in 2013, “advising” them in case they decided to have sex at a company outing in Florida.
The seedy memo allegedly included a ban on employees bedding anyone “in the same chain of command”, adding: “Yes, that means that Travis will be celi- bate on this trip. #CEOLife #FML” – internet slang meaning “F*** my life”.
In February, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler went public with claims of sexual harassment and discrimination, prompting the company to hire former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate her claims.
Ms Fowler wrote: “My new manager sent me a string of messages. He was in an open relationship, he said, and... he was looking for women to have sex with. It was clear he was trying to get me to have sex with him.”
She claimed she was told he would only receive a warning as he was a top performer.
The next month, it was leaked that a group of senior employees, including Kalanick, visited an escort and karaoke bar in Seoul in 2014, leading to a complaint from a female marketing manager.
And reports claimed an Uber exec obtained the medical records of a woman raped by an Uber driver in India, allegedly to cast doubt upon the victim’s account.
The executive, Eric Alexander, was fired, and the woman later sued the company for violating her privacy rights and defaming her.
This month Uber said it had sacked over 20 employees after a probe into the sexual harassment claims and workplace culture.
But there have also been claims of dirty tricks towards Uber rivals.
In 2014 the firm was accused of booking thousands of fake rides from Lyft to cut into its profits and services. Reports also told of a spy programme to uncover drivers working for both firms.
Last year a former Uber forensic investigator said employees regularly spied on politicians and celebrities, including Beyonce.
Eoin Dubsky, of campaign group SumOfUs, says Kalanick’s departure is not enough.
He adds: “Uber’s reputation for disregarding laws that protect workers and the public still stands – which is why we plan on continuing to pressure the company to implement reforms that protect
workers and riders alike.”