Uber, the leading cab-hailing company globally, has selected Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO. The decision was taken after a series of board meetings took place over the weekend and according to confirmed sources, Dara had an edge over the other 2 names contending for the post till the last moment. The selection of Dara has come after a series of events against the outgoing CEO resulted in a big scene over the last few months.
Dara Khosrowshahi currently heads Expedia, another world leaders in its domain. Expedia operates as a travel company which helps users book hotels, travel tickets apart from suggesting them their travel itinerary.
According to the sources aware of the inside developments, Jeffrey R. Immelt and Meg Whitman were the other contenders to be running for the top job, however, Jeffrey R. Immelt withdrew on Sunday after it was obvious that he did not enjoy enough support from the board to be elected a CEO. Meg Whitman, however, was the first choice of the board until recently, however, the course of meetings on Sunday changed the momentum in favour of Dara Khosrowshahi. Meg Whitman currently heads HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise).
Uber, currently valued at over $70 Billion, is the biggest ride-hailing service in the world. However, it has been without a leader since June 20th, when its co-founder & CEO Travis Kalanick had resigned under pressure. Travis was very instrumental in establishing Uber as a brand over the years which saw the company expanding to various countries in last few years. However, this year, things went bitter after an audio of Travis went viral in which an Uber driver was heard talking to him about their policies and how the drivers have been impacted over the years.
The journey of choosing a new CEO hasn’t been a cakewalk. Provided, Travis still holds a board position and he had his differences with Benchmark, one of the major investors in the company. Sources claim that both of them had their own preferred candidates and that resulted in a delayed process of hiring the new CEO. Benchmark had also moved court alleging Travis to force the investor off the board.