Travis Kalanick, Chief Executive Officer of one of the most influential technology companies of our generation decided to hand in the resignation letter on Wednesday. This decision follows after months of shareholder dissatisfaction and widespread unrest among the top officials in Uber Inc.
About Travis Kalanick and his reactions following departure
The 40-year-old Billionaire from California has stated that he loved the company more than anything else and it was personally very difficult for him to accept his fate. He, however, hopes for the best for Uber.
The resignation comes just one week after Travis took an indefinite leave last week following the release of a report by Attorney General Eric Holder which highlighted Uber’s toxic atmosphere. Travis, however, cited family tragedy, with his mother recently passing away as reasons behind the unexpected leave. He has mentioned in a letter to his colleagues that he desperately needed to take some time off in order to grieve his mother, to reflect, to work on himself and to focus on building out a world-class leadership team.
Agencies that demanded Kalanick’s resignation
According to The New York Times, five investors who own 40% of the equity demanded Travis’ immediate resignation in a letter delivered to Tuesday.
The stakeholders include:
- Benchmark
- First Round Capital
- Lowercase Capital
- Menlo Ventures
- Fidelity Investments
‘Noxious culture’ pervading in the company led to Kalanick’s downfall
Uber has had a long history with bending rules and regulations. The company faced a serious predicament in February when a former employee, Susan Fowler, who described the workplace as rife with acts of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Also, a video showing Travis Kalanick beating a driver who complained of reduced wages compelled the Ceo to apologize publicly.
Following these incidents, Uber hired Eric Holder’s firm Covington and Burling to investigate the culture and workplace practices. What followed was the unearthing of a huge vault of impropriety. These included Uber’s use of technology to evade regulators and various lawsuits involving discrimination, sexual harassment and other acts of misconduct which led to 20 employees being fired and many top executives quitting the company.
The top officials include:
- Jeff Jones, President.
- Amit Singhal, Senior Vice President of Engineering
- Rachel Whetstone, Head of Policy and Communications
- Brian McClendon, Vice President of Maps
- Ed Baker, Vice President of Product and Growth
- Gautam Gupta, Head of Finance
Various human resources executives have described the company as the “very definition of toxic culture” and that “Kalanick set the tone.” Therefore, it came as no surprise as Kalanick crumbled under the titanic pressure coming from the investors’ growing concerns with the critical positions of COO, CMO, and CFO also being vacated.
