Uber to appoint Expedia’s Khosrowshahi as CEO

Bloomberg

Uber Technologies Inc. will appoint Expedia Inc.’s Dara Khosrowshahi to run the global ride-hailing leviathan, two people familiar with the matter said. He’ll succeed co-founder Travis Kalanick, who led the firm to $20 billion in annual bookings before scandals forced him out.
In hiring Expedia’s chief executive officer, Uber will land a seasoned deal-maker and an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, who’s accustomed to sparring with one of his new company’s biggest rivals, Alphabet Inc. While a spokeswoman for Uber directors confirmed that they’ve chosen a CEO, she declined to name the person, saying the board would inform employees first. Expedia didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khosrowshahi will face a number of hurdles as Uber—which has raised more than $15 billion from private investors—navigates its way towards a still-unscheduled initial public offering. The new top executive must grapple with the company’s persistent losses, a high-stakes trade secrets suit filed by Alphabet’s Waymo, a tarnished brand and low morale among Uber’s more than 15,000 global employees.
Uber’s board met over the weekend for a last round of interviews with candidates and to discuss options, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified. Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman and General Electric Co. Chairman Jeffrey Immelt were under consideration for the job.
The board ultimately went with a dark horse. Khosrowshahi hadn’t been named publicly as a finalist during a CEO search that was plagued by leaks, boardroom infighting and a lawsuit involving two directors. He has accepted the position, people familiar with the discussions said.
Khosrowshahi, 48, is an Iran-born American who graduated from Brown University with an engineering degree. He had a stint in investment banking at Allen & Co. before joining with billionaire Barry Diller at IAC during the dot-com boom. Khosrowshahi led an acquisition binge in online travel, expanding IAC’s Expedia with takeovers of Orbitz and HomeAway.
He’s also one of the technology industry’s most outspoken CEOs in opposition to some of President Trump’s policies. He railed against the immigration ban and mocked Trump on Twitter as repeatedly failing to “rise to the expectations of his office” after the president’s response to protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. Uber’s long year of controversies began in January when Kalanick tried to justify his position on a Trump business council before ultimately resigning that post after customers staged a boycott.
Khosrowshahi was effective at marrying disparate businesses across Expedia, many brought together through acquisitions, said Woody Marshall, an investor in the online travel industry who has known Khosrowshahi since they were kids. “He’s been able to leverage technology in a thoughtful way,” said Marshall, a general partner at venture capital firm TCV, which isn’t an Uber investor. “He’s the real deal. He’s not bigger than life in terms of his public appearance or public personality. He’s bigger than life in terms of culture and values.”
Under Kalanick, Uber grew into a massive global business. In the second quarter of 2017, the company lost $645 million on $1.75 billion in net revenue. During Kalanick’s nearly seven-year stint, the San Francisco-based startup achieved a $69 billion valuation, struck partnerships with major auto manufacturers, took a sizable stake in its global competitor and established itself as the premier ride-hailing business in most of the developed world. Kalanick earned a sort of legendary Silicon Valley status, elbowing into the ranks of founders like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
However, Kalanick, 41, cultivated a brash reputation and played a central role in many of the company’s controversies. He was caught on tape arguing with an Uber driver over pay and was tied to the company’s mishandling of medical records for an Indian woman who had been raped by an Uber driver. Kalanick helped author the company’s cultural values, which consultants described as a way to justify bad behaviour. He also drove the acquisition of the trucking startup Otto for $680 million in stock, which led to a the lawsuit from Alphabet.
Uber’s search for a CEO started as a bid to find Kalanick “leadership help,” a process that began in March.