Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick resigns as CEO

Travis Kalanick. PIC/Twitter.

New York: Travis Kalanick stepped down as CEO of the $68 billion ride sharing company Uber that he helped found in 2009 following a “shareholder revolt” led by some of Uber’s most prominent investors, according to media. Uber’s five major investors demanded that the CEO resigns immediately. The investors included Uber’s one of the biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark. According to reports they wrote a letter ‘Moving Uber forward’ which recommended that the CEO step down immediately. After hours of discussion and drama, Kalanick stepped down from the post. ALSO READ: Lucknow: 'Drenched' school children fall ill after performing yoga with PM Modi in rain In a statement issued by Kalanick to a leading publishing house, he expressed his love towards the cab hailing company. He also diverted his thoughts towards his personal life and claiming this to be a difficult time in his life. He said that he can’t risk Uber’s success with another fight and that it should be back at building products. Uber’s board also said in a statement that for Kalanick, Uber came first and his stepping down as Chief Executive Officer will give some room for company’s betterment. Uber is under constant pressure of moving forward from its difficult history simultaneously with Kalanick. The resignation surfaced just one week after Kalanick began an indefinite leave of absence to bring a sustainable change in the Uber’s work culture. The company faced a crisis in February when a former employee accused the corporate culture and workplace rife with gender discrimination and sexual harassment through a viral blog post. According to Kalanick, he said that he would take an indefinite leave of absence partly to work on himself and to grieve for his mother who died last month in a boating accident. During Kalanick’s absence, the company was to be lead by a committee of executives. According to media, Kalenick’s leave was not enough for the investors. They own more than a quarter of Uber’s stock and account for about 40% of voting share. Apart from Benchamark, First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and Fidelity Investments demanded Kalanick’s immediate resignation. A lot of speculations are making the round and opening questions of who may take over the position. This was a very unusual move in Silicon Valley as no one risks to publically tasking a CEO and cofounder. Uber has raised more than $11 billion from investors since its founding in 2009 and has a wide base of shareholders apart from the ones who signed the letter. The investors also include TPG Capital, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, mutual fund giants like BlackRock and wealthy clients of firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. In the letter, the five shareholders asked for improved oversight of the company's board by filling two of three empty board seats with "truly independent directors." They also demanded that Uber should immediately hire a Chief operating officer.