Uber chooses Expedia chief as CEO, ending contentious search
SAN FRANCISCO — Uber selected Dara Khosrowshahi, who leads the online travel company Expedia, to be chief executive, capping a contentious search process as the ride-hailing company seeks to move past a turbulent period.
Khosrowshahi emerged as the leading CEO candidate over a weekend of Uber board meetings with three finalists, according to two people with knowledge of the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details were confidential.
One finalist, Jeffrey R. Immelt, the former chief of General Electric, withdrew on Sunday when it became clear that he did not enough have support, said two people familiar with the process. The board was leaning toward Meg Whitman, the chief of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the people said. Matters changed over the
course of Sunday afternoon and the board decided on Khosrowshahi.
Choosing Khosrowshahi is crucial to returning stability to Uber, the world’s biggest ridehailing company, which has
been without a leader since its co-founder, Travis Kalanick, stepped down from the CEO job under pressure on June 20. Under Kalanick, Uber changed the transportation landscape by offering people the ability to summon a ride through an app, and the privately held company swelled to a nearly $70 billion colossus.
But Uber’s prospects became murkier this year when the company was pummeled by scandal after scandal, including sexual harassment accusations in the workplace, a Department of Justice criminal investigation into some of its methods, and an intellectual property dispute with a self-driving car rival. While Uber’s business continued to grow, Kalanick’s management style faced scrutiny and investors mutinied against him.
The search for a new CEO was riven by discord, especially between Kalanick and Benchmark, a venture capital firm that is a major Uber shareholder and that also has a seat on Uber’s board. Both Kalanick and Benchmark had their own preferred candidates for a new chief. Benchmark also has sued Kalanick to try and force him off the board.