Travis Kalanick Steps Down As Uber CEO Under Investor Pressure

Kalanik will “remain on Uber’s board of directors” and will retain “control of a majority of Uber’s voting shares

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. (Photo: Reuters)

Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick resigned, on 20 June, under pressure from investors.

“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 to The New York Times.

Kalanik, who founded the ride-sharing company in 2009, “will remain on Uber’s board of directors” and will retain “control of a majority of Uber’s voting shares,” the NYT report added.

News of his resignation comes in the wake of the months-long investigation into the culture and workplace ethics of the organisation after a former employee, Susan Fowler, accused Uber of what she termed brazen sexual harassment.

Kalanick had already been on indefinite leave amid criticism of his management style, and following the death of his mother in a boating accident.

In an email addressed to Uber employees before going on leave, Kalanick wrote:

If we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve.

“During this interim period, the leadership team, my directs, will be running the company,” he wrote.

The San Francisco-based company has been working to counter the damage to its reputation following allegations of sexual harassment, trade secrets theft and allegations of efforts to mislead government regulators.

(With AP inputs)

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