Chinmay Bidkar
18 August 2017, India:
Ex-CEO, Founder and board member of Uber Travis Kalanick has responded to the accusations of Benchmark-one of the investors in Uber.
Kalanick believes that Benchmark secretly planned to oust him from the top job at Uber, where he was coming under pressure after a series of scandals including an investigation into sexual harassment at the company.
Kalanick’s legal team suggest that Benchmark’s demands that he step down felt like an “ambush” following the death of his mother, and that “[Benchmark] executed its plan at the most shameful of times: immediately after Kalanick experienced a horrible personal tragedy.”
The document further alleges that Benchmark didn’t raise any of the claims it put forth in its lawsuit until it was filed, challenging the firm’s claim that the investors felt “fraudulently induced” to giving Kalanick control of three board seats. The docs suggest the claims are a “fabrication articulated for the first time in its complaint” around 14 months after the amendment was signed.
Related read- Uber Investor Benchmark Sues Travis Kalanick for Fraud
The legal battle playing out in Uber’s boardroom is just the latest sign of dysfunction at the $69 billion company, which has been plagued by a crisis of leadership, complaints about its grinding work culture, and several other high-profile lawsuits. In its suit, Benchmark accused Kalanick of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty for not informing the board of problems at Uber and developing a board power structure that would maintain his influence in case he was removed as CEO. Benchmark also said that Kalanick is interfering in the company’s search for a new chief executive, Buzzfeed reported.
Must read- Losses, Cases, Sexual Harassment: Can They Make Uber Story Great Again?
Months after Kalanick’s resignation, Uber is unable to pin point to one person to lead the Uber out of the chaos and bring back on the path of success. The contenders to run Uber are Former Google Executive and SoftBank Group President, Nikesh Arora, Susan Wojcicki of YouTube, Adam Bain, Twitter’s former chief operating officer, David Cush, a former CEO at Virgin America and Thomas Staggs, an ex-COO at Disney. Uber’s search committee consists of five board members, including Kalanick; Nestlé SA executive Wan Ling Martello; venture capitalist Matt Cohler; media magnate Arianna Huffington and private-equity partner David Trujillo. (Image- Twitter profile)
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