The ongoing feud between Uber's investor Benchmark and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick has taken a new turn, with the former asking the judge in Delaware court to block the former CEO from filling up two seats on the company's board. The company is currently on the lookout for a new CEO and Benchmark feels that the presence of certain board members, thought to be Kalanick's acolytes, will hamper the whole exercise.
Feud escalates
The trouble between Venture Capital Firm Benchmark, which holds 13% in Uber and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick has been going on for some months.
However, it came to a pass earlier this month when Uber's key investor filed a lawsuit against Kalanick and demanded that the former CEO be removed the company's board altogether due to corporate governance issues. Kalanick had responded to the lawsuit but the issue has now been escalated by Benchmark. The firm has approached the judge in Delaware court and has stated that the Kalanick, who is still a member of the board is still interfering in critical decisions being taken by the company.
Benchmark demanded that the ex-CEO be blocked from filling up two seats on the board since it will hamper the company's search for a new CEO. In its filing, the firm stated, “It has been widely reported that Mr.
Kalanick’s behavior has caused potential CEO candidates to withdraw from consideration. Mr. Kalanick’s actions are chilling the search process and threatening harm to Uber (and Benchmark’s investment) by keeping Uber a ‘leaderless, and therefore foundering, corporation.’”
Long running feud
Benchmark is one of the earliest investors in Uber and over the past few months, they have been in open conflict with Travis Kalanick.
It was a campaign launched by the venture capital firm earlier this year that saw the ouster of Kalanick as the CEO of Uber and ever since Benchmark has been trying to get the co-founder to step down from the board of the company. In addition to that, the firm has accused that Kalanick is trying to control the company by nominating people close to him to seats on the board and that is what led to the lawsuit earlier this month.
Kalanick had responded to the whole affair by stating that the Benchmark's lawsuit is nothing more than a fabrication. He went on to state in his response that he had been ambushed and forced to resign when he was in an emotionally vulnerable state due to his mother's death. The feud has taken quite an ugly turn this month and the latest development will certainly not be the end of it.
