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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.

#911

Post by magic5227 »

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…

So all that matters to you is investor value?

Maybe some things matter more, like, not fostering an environment where sexual harassment is tolerated.

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

#912

Post by criddell »

snowwrestler wrote: post #728
gregorymichael wrote: post #717

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The previous market making mechanism for this industry was for a buyer to stand on a street corner, hold their hand up, and hope that a vendor who sold that service drove by. That's insane.

You could call for a cab, which worked fine. The app-based experience is undoubtedly better though.

In theory you could call for a cab. In practice, you couldn't.

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

#913

Post by Robelius »

mcguire wrote: post #883
wgyn wrote: post #840

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually such a calculation is possible (of consumer surplus), though perhaps some would argue against one or another part of the methodology. See: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/uber-economists-dream/ or http://www.nber.org/papers/w22627 . > So we found that in 2015, if you extrapolate to the whole U.S., we found that the overall consumer surplus added up to almost $7 billion. So people spent about $4 billion on Ub…

Tl;dr: Uber needs to raise its prices.

They probably felt comfortable taking a loss while they expanded more on these subsidized prices. As long as they don't get involved in harassment claims and theft of a competitors IP they should be in a strong position to start raising prices....

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

#914

Post by davidf18 »

mcguire wrote: post #883
wgyn wrote: post #840

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually such a calculation is possible (of consumer surplus), though perhaps some would argue against one or another part of the methodology. See: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/uber-economists-dream/ or http://www.nber.org/papers/w22627 . > So we found that in 2015, if you extrapolate to the whole U.S., we found that the overall consumer surplus added up to almost $7 billion. So people spent about $4 billion on Ub…

Tl;dr: Uber needs to raise its prices.

I would conclude that Uber is spending extra money to expand the market just as Amazon took losses to expand their market. They don't need to raise prices, but eventually reduce overhead per ride.

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

#915

Post by subterfudge44 »

soneca wrote: post #764
davidf18 wrote: post #701

Much of the resistance to Uber (such as laws that were broken, protests) were from entrenched interests. At least where I live in NYC, Uber was dramatically improving customer value while providing innovations that reduced greenhouse gas. It provided completion for the entrenched Yellow Cab monopoly with its very high rates. Sometimes Uber would have higher rates but then you could take a Yellow Cab instead. The Yell…

So why Lyft get none of the protests? I think you are mixing unrelated subjects. Uber final product is good for society. And other companies can provide the same product (in my city, São Paulo, there are other 3 good companies in the same space). Uber practices as a company are toxic for its employees and some of the toxicity leak to society. If such calculation was possible, I believe it would show a net positive im…

> Uber practices as a company are toxic for its employees and some of the toxicity leak to society.

Why are Uber employees not leaving and joining Lyft for the lower pay ? How does Uber failing benefits Uber employees ?

Lyft is not even close second to Uber in terms of total rides in USA.

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

#916

Post by blackrose »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #821
blackrose wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or is this a one way deal? FFS, dude. Men hold the vast majority of power in our society. No cards are stacked against them. No old fashioned norms are still levied on them everytime a woman speaks to them. They aren't constantly reminded by our culture to be gentlemen or look handsome or bring home the bacon or do anything they don't want to. To say "think of the men!" here is either willfully ignorant or just bei…

I am extremely pro feminist, but I believe this particular tactic is one of feminists most self destructive anti-patterns. It's one thing to say women have substantially more cards stacked against them on average. But it's another to say men have no cards stacked against them. Your position is particularly harmful to feminist aims, because one of the core feminist teachings that we need to get through is this: Don't…

I was mostly trying to point out how ridiculous camelite's argument sounded. I thought maybe we should instead have a serious conversation about the events leading up to Uber's current troubles, and how they reflect on our society and our own individual mindsets. But apparently this isn't the place for that.

Anyway, yeah, of course everyone has different circumstances. I didn't mean literally no men, just as the grandparent comment didn't mean literally believe all women. I was speaking generally in order to be comprehendible to a guy speaking generally and hypothetically.

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

#917

Post by JackFr »

bighi wrote: post #893
ajhurliman wrote: post #887

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same pushy, aggressive culture that made their some of their employees' lives awful also made it possible to get excellent service that reduces tons of drunk driving and generally improves people's lives. I really don't think they could've broke into the market by asking politely; it took some fire in the belly. However, the side effects are pretty devastating as well.

> The same pushy, aggressive culture that made their some of their employees' lives awful also made it possible to get excellent service that reduces tons of drunk driving and generally improves people's lives. So you're basically saying that stuff like treating women like shit was NECESSARY to provide a good "taxi" service?

> stuff like treating women like shit was NECESSARY to provide a good "taxi" service?

No, but its possible they were two facets of the same quality. While the aggressive, see-what-we-can-get-away-with attitude is useful (and probably necessary) in fighting the entrenched local monopolists who have local government protecting their vested interests, it turns out to be a serious liability with respect to workplace norms and stealing of trade secrets.

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

#918

Post by [deleted] »

chimeracoder wrote: post #875
davidf18 wrote: post #752

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Err, the cheaper rates were due to uber subsidising rides with VC money, which was unsustainable. Uber also did start a leasing program for drivers. The cheaper rates in NYC which are extremely high compared with the rest of the USA were because there was no $125 / 12 hour lease fee because there were no medallions. Medallion owners would get mortgages (like houses) for the $1.2 million medallions and the high leas…

> The cheaper rates in NYC which are extremely high compared with the rest of the USA were because there was no $125 / 12 hour lease fee because there were no medallions. As explained elsewhere in the thread, Uber does not and has not ever competed with medallion taxis for their main product (Uber X/Uber Black) in New York City. Uber's direct counterpart would be the for-hire cabs which are also regulated by the TLC,…

[deleted]

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

#919

Post by phlakaton »

macspoofing wrote: post #554
kevinburke wrote: post #3

According to the article 5 different VC firms representing 40% of the voting shares asked him to resign today. Kalanick still controls the majority of voting shares and a board seat. Most of Kalanick's trouble started with Susan Fowler speaking out. Please believe women when they report harassment in the workplace. Many of their reports may not be as clear cut as Mrs. Fowler's.

>Please believe women when they report harassment in the workplace This meme is often repeated in context of sexual harrassment (workplace or otherwise). How do you square that with the fact that women are as capable of laying and misleading as men are? How do you square that with "innocent until proven guilty" when accusation are leveled against another individual or company.

I should think that common sense would answer this question. You square it like this:

Let's say a person in your company tells you their boss is sexually harrassing them. You're on reasonably good terms with both the accuser and the accused.

Some responses you might make in this case:

- Deflect. Pretend you didn't hear it. Or, if pressed: "This isn't something I know anything about. You'd better take that up with them. Or maybe you could talk to HR?"

- Express skepticism: "Well, I don't know if you're lying or not. Sounds like a he-said she-said situation. Sorry."

- Express emotional support: "That sounds terrible! I'm sorry you're going through this, and I appreciate that it must be very hard for you to talk about this. How can I help?"

- Provide logistical support: "Let's get to the bottom of this."

- Express complete solidarity: "That bastard! We're going to nail them right to the wall for this. Right. To. The. Wall."

- Express complete solidarity for the accused: "How could you say this about them? They're a good person! They would never intentionally harass you. It must be a misunderstanding!"

Now: which responses might fall under the sentiment of "please believe women"? Which wouldn't? Which responses violate your ethical norms?

Seems to me, if you're purely caught up in the legalism of the situation, I'm guessing your response is going to be "skepticism," whether you want it to be or not.

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

#920

Post by ridgeguy »

bigtones wrote: post #190
downandout wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how much Kalanick has already taken off the table. That may be a motivating factor in his decision. If he has already pocketed hundreds of millions, he may understand that this could well be the death of the company, but just isn't motivated enough to fight these investors and is willing to let them burn the company to the ground. I wouldn't go as far as to say he doesn't care anymore, but being forced ou…

Kalanick has stated publicly that he has not sold a single share - so he has actually taken no money off the table whatsoever.

Perhaps he pledged a small fraction of his shares to collateralize a non-recourse loan. This is one way to monetize equity without selling it.

The lender takes the risks as to share value and liquidity. If presented early in Uber's climbing valuation curve, it probably would have looked like a good opportunity to lenders.

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