Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board • Hacker News Board

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#161

Post by stickfigure » Thu, Jun 22, 2017, 4:32 PM UTC

DonHopkins wrote: post #131

austenallred wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the claim is extraordinary and requires extraordinary evidence

You don't think it was extraordinary that David Bonderman interrupted Arianna Huffington to make a crude sexist remark about how he believes women on the board talk too much, during the all-hands meeting to unveil Uber’s plan for overhauling its corporate culture? Yes, Uber board member David Bonderman said women talk too much at an all-hands meeting about sexism at Uber: https://www.recode.net/2017/6/13/15795612/ube…

Hmmm. I'm not quite sure I see your point.

    Arianna Huffington: 
    David Bonderman:

Why do you look at this and conclude that Bonderman's comment reflects "Uber's true culture" rather than Huffington's? I don't see Huffington resigning in disgrace.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#162

Post by malandrew » Thu, Jun 22, 2017, 4:33 PM UTC

graedus wrote: post #78

aioprisan wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that there are never any real consequences to Wall St actually tends to prove the opposite.

Wall St has deeply and thoroughly captured all of the regulatory agencies charged with overseeing it, as well as most of the powerful organs of government, and thus sits comfortably above the law.

But not above the ire of the media. The media is just as money-corruptible as every other business enterprise and it found a shiny new toy to play with with Uber. There are likely orders of magnitude more workplace culture issues in finance, yet the media has largely moved past lambasting financial firms for that because it doesn't earn them enough eyeballs. Uber is only getting more attention for something many many many businesses are guilty of (and to a far greater degree) because no other company is as lucrative to write about.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#163

Post by mattmanser » Thu, Jun 22, 2017, 6:30 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #159

mattmanser wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of that is seasonal, cold = more taxis.

It's these types of comments that demonstrate how ignorant the doomsayers are about Uber's business. The doomsayers start with their desired failure outcome and work their way back to the present instead of seeing the myriad ways they could not be more wrong. In this case, Uber is an international business that operates in the northern and southern hemisphere and many places with other relevant weather patterns like…

How much of that income comes from the southern hemisphere? The Northern one is where all the money is.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#164

Post by erikpukinskis » Thu, Jun 22, 2017, 7:28 PM UTC

johan_larson wrote: post #9

I remain flabbergasted by all of this upheaval at Uber. What's happening is the sort of housecleaning I would expect if the company had to file for bankruptcy or got caught flat out bribing judges or something. But really, what triggered all this was acting like jerks. It seems to me, what should have happened (a long time ago) was that they got shut down for systematically breaking the law, or encouraging others to…

It's interesting how you use downplaying language "acting like jerks" and hyperbolic language "getting flayed alive" in order to try to sway the reader to your position.

Myself, I'm finding it difficult to understand your position at all because you aren't describing any recognizable facts about the situation.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#165

Post by smallgovt » Thu, Jun 22, 2017, 9:04 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #61

austenallred wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kalanick still had the majority. The board couldn't "plan" this without his consent.

They absolutely could plan it without his consent. Uber is still hemorrhaging money. They'd be lucky to make it through 2018 if those investors turned off the tap.

They absolutely could not put this plan into effect without his consent. Uber has plenty of sources for capital. The current board consists mainly of individuals who do not have funds to capitalize Uber anyways. Take a look at their funding history and you will realize that the lead in each round is a new investor.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#166

Post by malandrew » Thu, Jun 22, 2017, 11:55 PM UTC

fnbr wrote: post #99

draw_down wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. There are also a couple lawsuits in the mix, and the harassment issue was a lot more than just press.

Yup. The Holder report seems scathing, too, from what little we've seen. I would think that everything we've seen would have lead to a significant down round if Kalanick hadn't resigned (we still probably will). Given Uber's lack of profits & burn rate, a down round could send them into a death spiral.

All that we've seen is a list of recommendations. How did you go from a list of recommendations with no explanation as to how each recommendation was arrived at to "seems scathing"?

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#167

Post by DonHopkins » Fri, Jun 23, 2017, 1:06 AM UTC

stickfigure wrote: post #161

DonHopkins wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think it was extraordinary that David Bonderman interrupted Arianna Huffington to make a crude sexist remark about how he believes women on the board talk too much, during the all-hands meeting to unveil Uber’s plan for overhauling its corporate culture? Yes, Uber board member David Bonderman said women talk too much at an all-hands meeting about sexism at Uber: https://www.recode.net/2017/6/13/15795612/ube…

Hmmm. I'm not quite sure I see your point. Arianna Huffington: David Bonderman: Why do you look at this and conclude that Bonderman's comment reflects "Uber's true culture" rather than Huffington's? I don't see Huffington resigning in disgrace.

Why are you carrying the water for a sexist pig like Bonderman by misrepresenting his crude sexist remark as "some female-negative remark" and attempting to make a false equivalence by claiming it's the same as Huffington making "some female-positive remark"?

You don't see Huffington resign in disgrace, because there was no reason for her to, but you do see Bonderman resign in disgrace, because there was a very good reason for him to, and he admitted it in his resignation letter, calling his actions "careless, inappropriate, and inexcusable" and adding "I need to hold myself to the same standards that we’re asking Uber to adopt. Therefore, I have decided to resign from Uber’s board of directors, effective tomorrow morning.".

Do you disagree with anything he himself said in his resignation letter? Can you explain why he resigned and she didn't, if their comments are equivalent, and he didn't disgrace himself? What precisely did Huffington say that you believe is disgraceful?

Huffington was INVESTIGATING sexism and attempting to CHANGE Uber's sexist culture. Bonderman was EXEMPLIFYING sexism and attempting to PERPETUATE Uber's sexist culture. Are you capable of seeing the difference?

While you're at it, do you care to also carry the water for rtx's sexist remark: "It's a fact that women can speak more than men. But not sure why that is important during board meeting." -rtx

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#168

Post by DonHopkins » Fri, Jun 23, 2017, 1:09 AM UTC

rtx wrote: post #141

DonHopkins wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think it was extraordinary that David Bonderman interrupted Arianna Huffington to make a crude sexist remark about how he believes women on the board talk too much, during the all-hands meeting to unveil Uber’s plan for overhauling its corporate culture? Yes, Uber board member David Bonderman said women talk too much at an all-hands meeting about sexism at Uber: https://www.recode.net/2017/6/13/15795612/ube…

It's a fact that women can speak more than men. But not sure why that is important during board meeting.

Speak for yourself. But you'd be much better off if you kept your mouth shut about sexist opinions like that. Just like Bonderman.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#169

Post by V-eHGsd_ » Sat, Jun 24, 2017, 3:11 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #159

mattmanser wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of that is seasonal, cold = more taxis.

It's these types of comments that demonstrate how ignorant the doomsayers are about Uber's business. The doomsayers start with their desired failure outcome and work their way back to the present instead of seeing the myriad ways they could not be more wrong. In this case, Uber is an international business that operates in the northern and southern hemisphere and many places with other relevant weather patterns like…

to back up your point:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/technology/uber-limits-lo...

> The company said Wednesday that it lost $708 million over the first three months of the year on revenue of $3.4 billion, not counting expenses like employee stock compensation. That is a narrowing of the previous quarter’s loss of $991 million, on revenue of $2.9 billion.

revenue grew by ~500M, losses fell by ~300M. this isn't just more butts in seats trying to avoid the rain. this is about increased efficiency; each trip costing less in incentives and efficiency doesn't depend on the weather, or the hemisphere.

anyway, if the trend continues, we'll know more in a week.

Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board

#170

Post by wand3r » Sat, Jun 24, 2017, 10:36 PM UTC

goodriddance wrote: post #97

andybg wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

THIS. A million times this. Go ask pmarca too.

pmarca and gurley hate each other. pmarca is definitely the investor I would take money from. In fact, its funny you mention him. He's been hugely useful to Lyft (and his other investments) since he's "purchased" so much "goodwill" among The Who's Who of journalists covering Silicon Valley. As John Doerr once quipped, "No conflict, no interest", and pmarca has learned this lesson well. Every investment he's made in j…

Gurley told Horowitz to cut pmarca out and fire him.