Uber may have a new boss!
Popular global taxi service app Uber has offered the role of CEO to Dara Khosrowshahi, who is also CEO of online travel service Expedia.
Former Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick resigned from his role after allegations of stolen technology proprietory from Waymo (a self-driving car project owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) and claims of sexual harassment in the company.
Slate reports:
“The search for a new CEO has been roiled by board infighting and a contentious lawsuit from one of Uber’s early, most important investors, Benchmark Capital, which accuses Kalanick of fraud and, if successful, would force the ousted CEO off the board for good. The other final candidates for Uber’s CEO were reportedly Meg Whitman, the current CEO of Hewlett Packard, who bowed out of the running last month but apparently remained in the race, and Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, who pulled his name from consideration Sunday. Unlike (Dara) Khosrowshahi, neither of those candidates hails directly from the transportation industry.
If Khosrowshahi accepts the job, he’ll take the helm of a company that seems to be in self-destruct mode. But looking at his history of building one of the most powerful online transportation empires in the world, he is clearly a compelling choice to take over the troubled Uber.”
What does this mean for Uber riders and customers?
Well, nothing much in the short term but we’re yet to see if the new CEO has new ideas for how the service will work, and possibly new territories to cover.
Though Uber’s still unavailable in Zambia (but you can download the pap and use anywhere else), we hope to see our own local taxi service apps like Drivern and Taximania succeed beyond our borders.
