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Uber CEO To Take Leave, Diminished Role After Workplace Scandals (bloomberg.com)
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will take a leave of absence from the world's most valuable privately held company, he announced in an email to employees Tuesday. From a report: Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick told staff he plans to take a leave of absence, without disclosing a return date. The company will strip him of some duties and appoint an independent chair to limit his influence after a slew of scandals, according to an advance copy of a report prepared for the board. At a staff meeting Tuesday, the company will convey the results of a probe conducted by Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general who Uber hired to look into allegations of harassment, discrimination and an aggressive culture. The 47 recommendations include creating a board oversight committee, rewriting Uber's cultural values, reducing alcohol use at work events, and prohibiting intimate relationships between employees and their bosses. Uber's board met Sunday to review a detailed version of the report and voted unanimously to approve the recommendations. Afterward, the San Francisco-based company ousted Emil Michael, Uber's head of business.
As usual, Slashdot readers will reject that there could be harassment or discrimination against women in the workplace. The male-dominated crowd on this site will spin it as somehow being the result of quotas leading to the hiring of unqualified female engineers. It's a predictable response and one that comes out in every story about discrimination and harassment, regardless of the circumstances and the strength of the evidence to support the claims. I'm not sure why these stories get posted any longer because the response is so predictable, just like a broken record.
The 47 recommendations include creating a board oversight committee, rewriting Uber's cultural values, reducing alcohol use at work events, and prohibiting intimate relationships between employees and their bosses.
Time to end being a startup and grow up into a Fortune 500 company. Everyone will attend sensitivity training until that happens.
I've seen a lot of liberal friends who were throwing a lot of shade Ubers way after the recent news stories about them and harassment. Many of them said they have switched to Left and will never look back.
It made me wonder - what can a company even do for absolution once the mob has decided they are to be punished? I wonder if this latest move will make the slightest dent in support of people who were so angry with Uber before. If it's not possible to repair that relationship then, why even bother to do something like have the CEO step back for damage control? It seems like where we are at a company should just ignore the problem and move on accepting some customer losses and minimizing press from their side with any response.
Myself, I'll continue to use Uber primarily because I have it set up, and I feel like I am helping the drivers more than the company (I always tip Uber drivers now, did not at first).
Also mustaches on cars creep me out. It's not the color, or I wouldn't be a strong T-Mobile supporter...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
She's a woman, she's experienced at leading a major corporation, and it just so happens that she's just become available.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will take a leave of absence from the world's most valuable privately held company
It is HIGHLY unlikely that any reasonable valuation of Uber exceeds that of Saudi Aramco which is the actual most valuable private company in the world.
Given that Uber lost something like $2.8 Billion last year, proclaiming it the most valuable private company in the world is just plain idiotic.
1. Taxis are not subsidized by the government. They're also rarely actual monopolies - local governments sometimes (but rarely) restrict the number of licensed cabs, but you're still looking at a huge number of operators
2. If you say so.
3. Yup.
4. A culture that encourages law breaking in one area is likely to be rotten from top to bottom. The fact some of the strikes against Uber have to do with concerns relating to discrimination is merely an obvious consequence.
I doubt Kalanick can turn Uber around. Uber isn't making losses because it breaks the law, it's making losses despite breaking the law. The reality is that they're undercutting taxis on price without undercutting them on costs, and taxis aren't exactly a highly profitable industry. That'll probably never change.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Uber's brand has been irreparably damaged. It's actually kind of nice to see one of those alt-right Libertarian douchebags crash and burn.
What "crash and burn" are you referring to? The dude still gets to laugh all the way to the bank...
#DeleteChrome
And they can call it Yahouber
Burma?