Fresh off the back of, arguably, the most hotly contested Presidential race to date, came a new battle for a top dog spot. (Before getting too excited, no, Trump hasn’t resigned.) This time, the job up for grabs was not the most powerful position in the Western world, but who would hold the reins in the ever-growing empire of Uber. Although appearing futile in comparison to who calls the shots on nuclear war, the combat of terrorism, and so much more; it is equally important to know who is going to make sure you get home after a feast of VKs and cheesy chips on a Saturday night. Just think, the new Chief Executive may finally introduce Uber into Exeter!
The former boss Travis Kalanick resigned back in June following immense pressure from shareholders, and ever since there has been much speculation over who would take up the position. August saw a known candidate withdraw himself from the race: Jeff Immelt of General Electric announced on twitter that he had not decided to pursue a charge for the leadership.
hile Uber may appear hugely popular on the surface, it recently came to light the company has endured vast problems surrounding sexual harassment and macho culture, leading to the firing of 20 employees in June 2017. With this recent scandal illustrating Uber is not as forward thinking and seamless as people may have previously thought, the entire workforce began to question their position within the company. Hence, further senior executives detached themselves from the company and found alternative employment. This then stimulated questioning into whether anyone would even want to take up such a high-profile role amongst such outrage.
With Immelt’s withdrawal, the New York Times highlighted Meg Whitman as the new favourite for the job. Whitman is currently the President and Chief Executive of Hewlett Package Enterprise, most commonly known as HP Inc.: she is an advocate for smaller firms, celebrating their ability to compete better with rivals and thus has vastly shrunk HP Inc. during her time in charge. Clearly, Whitman has the experience of leadership and the ideas and drive necessary to front such a dominating business. However, as qualified as she appeared, she too withdrew herself from the contest via twitter.
2 candidates down and journalists started to twiddled their thumbs. Yet suddenly we were kept in anticipation no longer; Uber confirmed on the 27th August 2017 that Expedia boss, Dara Khosrowshahi, would fulfill the role. Khosrowshahi was a surprise choice, but with 12 years as the CEO of a highly successful travel company, it would appear sound and logical. The former Expedia boss is known for being vocal in his criticism of those in other powerful positions, including that of the US President, calling him out on failing to “rise to the expectations of his office”. Experience combined with passion would suggest an exciting future for Uber…
However, perhaps the real question to ask following this façade is, next time you have an important career announcement to make, is twitter now the place to turn to?