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Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

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Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brings up a fun thought: "What do with all the Uber fragments I can't keep in my arms grip!?!?" --- So what do? How harvest. (Think of this as a thought experiment) --- Uber collapses: As an outsider, what are perceived assets and what are perceived risks/liabilities What are perceived opportunities: how to harvest them NOW?? Experiment 1: Uber shall die in x months; thus need to take action y now, at cost of x with…

Is this in English? Are you ok???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNHsk57f24

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#153

It's interesting to see how all the chaos at the board and management level has affected employees. Data from LinkedIn paints a troubling picture both in terms of hiring and retention. * Uber has 31,537 employees as of August 2017. * New hiring is down from 1000 per month in 2016 to 500 a month in 2017. July was the lowest month since the start of LinkedIn data which is August 2015 @ 440 hires. * There are currently…

> Uber has 31,537 employees as of August 2017.

If that's the number you are getting from LinkedIn, then you can consider the LinkedIn numbers to be absolutely worthless. That number is 2x to 3x the actual value.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#154

It's interesting to see how all the chaos at the board and management level has affected employees. Data from LinkedIn paints a troubling picture both in terms of hiring and retention. * Uber has 31,537 employees as of August 2017. * New hiring is down from 1000 per month in 2016 to 500 a month in 2017. July was the lowest month since the start of LinkedIn data which is August 2015 @ 440 hires. * There are currently…

> Uber has 31,537 employees as of August 2017. If that's the number you are getting from LinkedIn, then you can consider the LinkedIn numbers to be absolutely worthless. That number is 2x to 3x the actual value.

Yes, that is directly from the LinkedIn dashboard for Uber [1] which has company employment data. I am assuming that they are dependent on people listing their employment as Uber for it to be correct. I believe you have to be a Premium user to get the data.

Where did you get the 2x to 3x data point? Also, does your data source show anything different on the other issues around slowing of hiring and additional churn this year at Uber?

It is possible that the top line # might be problematic because it requires self reporting, but there is still signal in the # of people that are self reporting joining and leaving.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/1815218/

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#155
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why so many people?

Many of the 30,000+ employees are non-tech. Uber needs lots of hires for driver recruitment, training, support. They have people on the ground in every region they operate.

do they get paid okay?

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#156
post #147

It's interesting to see how all the chaos at the board and management level has affected employees. Data from LinkedIn paints a troubling picture both in terms of hiring and retention. * Uber has 31,537 employees as of August 2017. * New hiring is down from 1000 per month in 2016 to 500 a month in 2017. July was the lowest month since the start of LinkedIn data which is August 2015 @ 440 hires. * There are currently…

Why so many people?

Also likely drivers list they work at Uber

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#157

I do not know Travis well enough to say if he is a "good" or "bad" person but playing devil's advocate for a second: is it really a crime to organize a board in your favor? I imagine this is done all the time.

Absolutely not. You can arrange a board however the founders and shareholders agree. However, it appears they are arguing that he purposefully withheld valuable information from them that would have made them vote differently on the board arrangement.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber has 31,537 employees as of August 2017. If that's the number you are getting from LinkedIn, then you can consider the LinkedIn numbers to be absolutely worthless. That number is 2x to 3x the actual value.

Yes, that is directly from the LinkedIn dashboard for Uber [1] which has company employment data. I am assuming that they are dependent on people listing their employment as Uber for it to be correct. I believe you have to be a Premium user to get the data. Where did you get the 2x to 3x data point? Also, does your data source show anything different on the other issues around slowing of hiring and additional churn t…

> Yes, that is directly from the LinkedIn dashboard for Uber [1] which has company employment data. I am assuming that they are dependent on people listing their employment as Uber for it to be correct. I believe you have to be a Premium user to get the data.

You're sourcing Linkedin for employment data and using that to say there's a churn problem at Uber?

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well, no problem then. just stealing your employer's property to use to use for extortion. what a nothingburger.

They had previously refused to pay him wages that they had agreed to pay. It is common in parts of the programming world — especially when dealing with untrustworthy clients — to keep a way to take their IP/disable their website/turn off their domain/etc unless they pay you on time.

No it's not. Illegally holding on to property that's not yours isn't leverage - its theft and leaves you open to prosecution. If you have a contract with someone and they're in breach then the courts provide you an avenue for relief - not blackmail.

Re: Benchmark Capital Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud

#160

Benchmarks in a bind and at war with travis; they need to liquidate their stake in next year or two. Softbank deal to buy out their shares fell apart in part b/c no CEO. Benchmark wants safe-hands leader who will cost-cut firesale their way to quick IPO. travis + allies being more long term; blocking benchmarks CEO picks (meg). so board civil war continues with benchmarks dirty tricks like this sour grapes lawsuit an…

This is no excuse to sue their investee. WORST VCs ever. This will serve as a cautionary tale to avoid working with benchmark.
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