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Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

nytimes.com

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Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#41

Post by Animats »

This may kill Uber. Kalanick is a jerk, but he created that insane valuation. Uber has less than a year of runway left at their current burn rate. Unless they can find a bigger sucker than the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia,[1] they're going broke in 2018. (That "undisclosed amount" in 2017 isn't a significant investment on Uber's scale.)

IPO? No way. They'd have to publish audited numbers. What's leaked out is bad enough. The real numbers have to be worse. Notice that leveraged loan in 2016.[2] All the details of that have to be disclosed in the prospectus for an IPO.

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber/funding-rounds [2] https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/07/new-reports-confirm-1-15b-...

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#43

Post by kornish »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #33
rmason wrote: post #12

Hope everyone's paying attention to the identity of these investors behind this horrid behavior. Travis is not without his flaws but he created an awful lot of value for them. They pressure him into taking a sabbatical, then two days in they pull this cowardly act of firing him remotely. Not only was it a cowardly act, but it was the wrong thing to do for the business. It will lead to an epic destruction of value. Wo…

> epic destruction of value Better than abiding by an epic destruction of values.

Don't kid yourself for a second that investors are kicking Travis out because of a moral imperative.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#44

Post by zer00eyz »

dvt wrote: post #13

Not unsurprising, as Uber really is trying to grow up, and Travis Kalanik has been the silicon valley poster boy for a bit too long. I still think he did a phenomenal job, not only launching a successful startup, but creating an international cultural movement. I wonder who will take his place, and, more importantly, I wonder if Uber will continue winning.

Did he do a lot, sure.

Does he deserve to be complimented in any way shape or form?

No... Not in the slightest.

I think the question is can uber continue winning without being toxic to staff (drivers, women, I'm sure there are others), maybe stealing (waymo lawsuit), and building tools to avoid the law....

The answer is I don't know, but it is going to be hard to recover from.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#45

Post by panarky »

flyosity wrote: post #5

If Uber ends up going down in flames, unable to recover from the scandals and lawsuits, and Lyft prevails, it will be the most incredible change of fate in the business world this century or perhaps longer. The future of automobiles and transportation is still being swirled about, and it feels like Uber's downfall has blown the game WIDE open, ready for anyone (maybe Uber, maybe Lyft, maybe Tesla, Google, Apple, an a…

I don't know if it's possible for a company to change a culture that's this sick.

But it's almost certainly not possible to do it with the same CEO. A leave of absence is not sufficient.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#46

Post by necessity »

flyosity wrote: post #5

If Uber ends up going down in flames, unable to recover from the scandals and lawsuits, and Lyft prevails, it will be the most incredible change of fate in the business world this century or perhaps longer. The future of automobiles and transportation is still being swirled about, and it feels like Uber's downfall has blown the game WIDE open, ready for anyone (maybe Uber, maybe Lyft, maybe Tesla, Google, Apple, an a…

I believe that (much) more relevant than that is what regulators do with these services around the world. For the people it doesn't really matter if it's Uber or Lyft. We are already seeing a protectionist wave of regulations getting rid of affordable transportation throughout the developing and the developed world, I can only imagine that when self-driving cars actually hit the market for good it will be on the whole forbidden in some countries...

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#47

Post by samstave »

akras14 wrote: post #16
jchien17 wrote: post #9

Wow, I thought he was just going to step away and take a break. Do we know who might replace him? It's also interesting that the five shareholders mentioned in the NYTimes article want 2 "truly independent directors". What does that mean? Depending on how many board seats there are, maybe two votes aren't enough?

I bet it will be a woman. Merrisa Mayer? lol

Haha I thought the same thing, then kicked myself for manifesting that thought into the universe, only because that seems the most probable Silicon Valley knee jerk reaction in this case...

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#49

Post by openmosix »

Just a few years ago, Uber was the place to be, the startup to imitate. How many Uber for X pitches did we see? The entire story makes me sad (not the resignation, that was kind of expected) - Uber was an icon of "disruption" and of challenging the status quo. Now, it's just a sad story and people prefer to not be associated with it.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#50

Post by slice_of_life »

rmason wrote: post #12

Hope everyone's paying attention to the identity of these investors behind this horrid behavior. Travis is not without his flaws but he created an awful lot of value for them. They pressure him into taking a sabbatical, then two days in they pull this cowardly act of firing him remotely. Not only was it a cowardly act, but it was the wrong thing to do for the business. It will lead to an epic destruction of value. Wo…

>Hope everyone's paying attention to the identity of these investors

Exactly. I would be wary of these specific folks. I bet you they would do the same to any founder in a heartbeat.

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