Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Forced to Resign

A revolt by shareholders forced out the founder of the company as it seeks to address allegations of sexual harassment and workplace culture problems

Travis Kalanick Uber
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Following months of scandal and criticism, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned from the ride-sharing company he co-founded on Tuesday under pressure from investors, the New York Times reported.

The move comes a week after Kalanick took an open-ended leave of absence. That came amid a growing scandal surrounding the company’s workplace culture, which included numerous allegations of sexual harassment.

According to the Times, Kalanick resigned after a shareholder revolt, culminating in a letter from investors titled “Moving Uber Forward” that demanded he immediately leave the company he co-founded in 2009.

“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 that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight,” Kalanick said in a statement given to the Times.

Along with the company’s multiple workplace scandals, Kalanick himself had become a lightning rod for criticism.

Always combative — he arguably entered the public spotlight in 2013 when he mocked and derided people complaining about Uber’s excessively high surge pricing — Kalanick seemed determined to make things worse in 2017. Notably, he had to apologize after he was videotaped berating a bankrupt Uber driver in March.

Other scandals under his watch include the recent revelation that an Uber executive illegally obtained an Uber customer’s medical records after she was raped, and a trade-secrets theft lawsuit filed against Uber by Google parent company Alphabet.

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