Uber CEO Takes Leave

We have all known for a while now that Uber has been confronted with a big upper management issue, which was then made worse by the surfacing of sexual harassment in Uber's workplace. For news to now reveal that the CEO is taking a leave of absence is just putting salt on the wound.

Uber seems to be making a comeback by lowering losses from Q4 2016 which is evident from this article, but with the CEO out of the picture for an unknown period of time, could this bring Uber back to more losses until they get the issue settled? Will Uber's investors start to drop out? Could this effect a potential IPO?

Thoughts?
Comments?

 
Best Response

Kalanick is a fantastic startup CEO. He is the kind of person who can bend the laws of physics through sheer force of will. And in that initial rush to gain traction and eventually scale, he's the kind of leader you want steering the ship.

When a company becomes big enough, that sort of whatever-it-takes mentality becomes detrimental, and things like employee retention and culture become far more important to the sustainability of a company's operational integrity. Given Kalanick clearly doesn't care about those things, he's let Uber's internal culture get out of control. He needs adult supervision (Eric Schmidt/Google, Sheryl Sandberg/Facebook).

Uber has a great product. I don't know enough about ridesharing to know whether or not they can squeeze positive unit economics out of it with enough scale, but if that thesis proves out then it shouldn't be hard to 1) recruit a good senior manager to carry Uber through to IPO, or 2) get through this unfortunate series of speed bumps. I doubt issues around a company's internal culture will cause investors to jump ship (just look at Tanium).

 

Current Uber CEO was a great fit when the company needed to grow and expand with a "No fucks" given attitude into different markets. However, the company has gotten too big and they need an experienced CEO to make Uber operationally sound. All the internal memo's and emails I've read from Kalanick are pretty embarrassing... it sounds like the company just needs some parental guidance to take them to the next level.

"A man can convince anyone he's somebody else, but never himself."
 
Keyser Söze 123:
Current Uber CEO was a great fit when the company needed to grow and expand with a "No fucks" given attitude into different markets. However, the company has gotten too big and they need an experienced CEO to make Uber operationally sound. All the internal memo's and emails I've read from Kalanick are pretty embarrassing... it sounds like the company just needs some parental guidance to take them to the next level.
Is this just a summary of the post above yours from 7xEBITDA ? Definitely reads that way.
 

You cannot discredit the man for taking Uber to it's current success, but he fits into a corporate environment like the pope at a nudist colony. Uber has had trouble with Kalanick for years... he wrote an email before a company party in 2013 saying, and I quote:

"Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic "YES! I will have sex with you" AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip. #CEOLife #FML"

In the email, he refers to himself in the third person. When has John Welch from GE ever done that? Saying Uber needs someone to take the helm and run the company better operationally isn't like discovering Penicillin. If anything I unintentionally saved people time.

Enjoy the cliff notes... Dick.

"A man can convince anyone he's somebody else, but never himself."
 

This is why I am against these split voting rights stock. If shareholders had a proportionate vote, this dude would likely be fired. The mistakes are just piling up: executive exodus, paid for a self driving car firm that stole waymo technology and is in an active lawsuit over that, rampant sexism, caught on camera berating the one of the very drivers you rely on for that ridiculous valuation. But it is a "leave of absence" because three people essentially control the company. This split voting rights tech shit is going to hit the fan at some point and I can't wait for the market to realize how foolish it is to purchase equity that offers essentially no voting rights.

Array
 

I view uber as a great ride hailing app. They could sacrifice children to the devil in their offices and I'd use the app.

Seriously, who the fuck are the people not using uber cause a bunch of tech nerds "harassed" the office 4 out of 10?

 

Kalanick is a hero who took on hundreds (maybe thousands?) of crony governments worldwide and, for the most part, kicked their f*cking asses and created what will ultimately be a large part of the transportation network of the future. If not for him/Uber, ride-sharing would have taken 50 years to take off because the rest of the ride-sharing companies, Lyft included, are run by a bunch of gutless pussies. No matter if he's a horrible person or not, regardless of his competence as a modern-day manager, I hope that history remembers him as the hero that he is.

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- Is this virtually the end of Kalanick's Silicon Valley career?

No and I sure hope not. Say what you will about Uber and the sharing economy as a whole but it takes vision and drive to turn an inconvenience into an idea that receives billions in funding. If anything Travis changed our world and our expectations for services.

- Will this give competitors such as Lyft a bigger advantage and more appeal to the general public?

I'm doubtful. Lyft hasn't done much IMO other than be Option 2 for ride hailing.

- Who do you think should be the new CEO to take the company forward?

No idea but maybe someone who has a strong background in logistics, operations management, etc. Perhaps a current or former CEO or COO of a train company like NorfolkSouthern. I figured they could apply best practices because at the end of the day its about moving people but what do I know.

- Will potential investors be turned off in investing in Uber due to the issues of the past few months? (Uber has to raise more money soon)

Perhaps. Travis WAS Uber and as its founder and brainchild, now that he's gone I'm less hopeful for the future of Uber. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back.

- Will Uber survive?

Yes but I'm worried about investor patience and whether Uber can continue to develop and get towards sustained profitability. I like the idea of Uber Eats but more services need to be offered and streamlined in one ecosystem for the consumer.

Maybe partner with Amazon for grocery delivery?

 

Imagine if he made a Steve Jobs-esque return. That was one of my first thoughts when he resigned. In my opinion, Uber can carry on and become even more successful if they recruit better C-suite execs. However, if they recruit a weak CEO then I can only see failure ahead for Uber.

 

Now that he resigned he can sleep with all of the uber employees he wants. This must be a key benefit for him since it bothered him so much that he mentioned it in his official communications to his employees.

 

Well during Kalanick's time as CEO, he certainly introduces some level of volatility, as his actions are seen at times to be somewhat controversial. I don't see Lyft posing too much competition to Uber since

a.) Uber is still intrinsically more valuable (potentially) due to it's grounded reputation and presence in the industry even though Lyft started before Uber.

And b.) Uber also has it's Ubereats branch which also provides it with extra revenue. I would regard Ubereats and Deliveroo the two main premium food delivery services (in the UK perhaps, other lower qualities include Hungryhouse, Justeat, Jinn etc.)

However, the value added of Kalanick is not unsubstantial, his leadership was crucial in paving the path of uber's rise and phenomenal success. Uber was created in the beginning as a premium service, but Kalanick swiftly altered the business model of Uber which made it far more successful. Moreover, Uber was not Kalanick's first venture success (I think its called Red Swoosh?), but even after a plethora of profits, Kalanick's determination and lack of complacency led him to the inception of Uber.

 

Itss going to become a politically correct shit company. Look at what happened to apple. a gay leads the company, and he has turned it into a homosexual rights organization. Or look at all those companies destroyed by women CEOs, all of them affirmative action. now a woman is most likely going to take over UBER and we all know how that is going to end up.

 

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