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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.

#171

Post by yathroaway »

hkmurakami wrote: post #117
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…

Pardon me for being somewhat rude, but your perspective suggests that you're perhaps relatively young? IBM's recent demise, Lehman Brothers going down under, Enron, Arthur Anderson / Worldcom, the dismantling of Japanese mega conglomerates by the GHQ, Apple's 90's turnaround, the death of workstation companies, deregulation of US airlines, are all orders of magnitude more impactful than if Uber dies and Lyft prevails…

Myspace

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

#172

Post by pishpash »

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…

It will also be a tragedy. With Kalanick gone, Uber is already behaving like a conformist, viz. the recent headlines (1) "Uber co-founder: We’ve been too obsessed with growth" (what?); (2) "Uber is (finally) rolling out tipping" (just awful). That sounds just like Lyft and Lyft is not a worthy rival in any sense of the word.

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

#173

Post by smt88 »

[deleted] wrote: post #149
smt88 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any founder? Or just founders who drag their company's name and culture into a swamp of immoral behavior?

[deleted]

How I feel is irrelevant. Consumers and investors feel that Uber behaved immorally, and there's some indication that the legal system will agree.

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

#174

Post by function_seven »

goseeastarwar wrote: post #20

Founder CEO's do not resign, they are fired. The article skips over the board entirely, but Travis must have been blindsided by his co-founder Garret Camp and early CEO Ryan Graves for this to have transpired. The board likely threatened to fire him unless he resigned, because there's no way Travis walks away because of this investor letter. It's more than likely the letter just provided the air cover his old friends…

The board lacked the power to fire him. He controls most of the company. They had persuasive power, sure. But if he had wanted to dig in and refuse to leave, he could have.

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

#175

Post by [deleted] »

drewblaisdell wrote: post #161
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…

If Uber dies and Lyft becomes the new market leader, who is the new underdog?

[deleted]

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

#176

Post by [deleted] »

drewblaisdell wrote: post #161
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…

If Uber dies and Lyft becomes the new market leader, who is the new underdog?

[deleted]

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

#178

Post by snowwrestler »

fnovd wrote: post #98

>Mr. Kalanick last week said he would take an indefinite leave of absence from Uber, partly to work on himself and to grieve for his mother, who died last month in a boating accident. He said Uber’s day-to-day management would fall to a committee of more than 10 executives. >In the letter, titled “Moving Uber Forward” and obtained by The New York Times, the investors wrote to Mr. Kalanick that he must immediately lea…

I think this is right on. It's a crucial moment for Uber and that is no time to hand leadership off to a big committee.

I'm seeing a bunch of references in these comments to when Steve Jobs was fired from Apple.[1] A more relevant reference might be when Jobs stepped down to treat his cancer. He named one interim CEO--Tim Cook--and fully empowered him to run Apple.

If it was Travis's idea to leave a 10-person committee in charge, that is the sort of insecure, bad decision that would set off investor alarm bells.

[1] This is actually not a great comparison to Travis. Jobs was not CEO when Sculley fired him, and in fact had never been CEO of Apple. He was one of 3 founders, each of whom was arguably crucial to the early success of Apple--Jobs, Woz, and Mike Markkula, who did serve as CEO and sided with Sculley in firing Jobs. Apple subsequently grew 10x under Sculley.

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

#179

Post by smt88 »

slice_of_life wrote: post #136
smt88 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any founder? Or just founders who drag their company's name and culture into a swamp of immoral behavior?

Most founders. I don't think it had come to that yet. The good he has done immensely outweighs any wrongdoings. There was a degree of penance on his part and it should count for something. Travis has had to make a lot of hard decisions to get Uber where it is. These decisions have at times cost him goodwill of the public but I think they are (were) worth it for the long term.

Perception is the same as reality here, though. He could be a great leader, but still too controversial to keep at the company. If it wasn't an organizational decision, it was a marketing decision.

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

#180

Post by smt88 »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #139
smt88 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Travis created an insane valuation but the business isn't viable? That sounds like bad management to me. They may do much better without him.

Keep in mind a company can be said to be valued at 100B today and 100M tomorrow yet everyone involved can still turn a profit. What matter are: Cash In Bank, Cash Coming In, Burn Rate.

Agreed. My point is that the fundamentals don't live up to the valuation.
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