Uber founder Travis Kalanick stepped down from his position as CEO of the popular ridesharing service on Tuesday following a demand that he step down from their five major investors.
The New York Times reports that these five investors wrote Kalanick letter titled “Moving Uber Forward.” The letter was obtained by the Times and demanded Kalanick’s immediate resignation in order to find new leadership.
Slate reports Kalanick had already announced last week that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence, but for Uber’s investors, this wasn’t good enough.
The investors’ demand follows a slew of criticism from both inside and outside the company claiming Uber’s business tactics are greedy and its workplace culture is toxic and sexist. This view of the company became even more widespread after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler wrote a post describing the sexual harassment she had faced while working at Uber.
Kalanick has spoken up about his resignation in a statement issued shortly after the decision was made known. “I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investors’ request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight,” he said in his statement. Kalanick’s mother died at the end of May, which is what he may be referring to by “this difficult moment in my personal life.”
Kalanick will remain on Uber’s board of directors for now, but the startup is officially on the lookout for a new chief executive.