Deposed Uber chief Travis Kalanick welcomes new CEO
New Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Wednesday officially met Uber's employees at a companywide meeting, where former chief Travis Kalanick formally welcomed his successor.
Kalanick co-founded Uber and ran the company until he resigned in June under pressure from investors. At Wednesday's meeting, he reportedly spoke about the difficulties he experienced over the past half-year and received a standing ovation from the assembled workers.
Uber's board of directors, on which Kalanick still sits, voted unanimously to confirm Khosrowshahi as the CEO on Sunday. The board formally introduced the new CEO in an email to the company on Tuesday. Wednesday's meeting is the first time the former Expedia leader meets the majority of Uber employees.
In a note to Expedia employees, Khosrowshahi spoke eloquently of the decision to leave the company, which he has led for 12 years. "I have to tell you I am scared," he said in the letter, which was obtained by Recode.
But, he continued, "you have to move out of your comfort zone and develop muscles that you didn't know you had."
The official transition was an emotional moment for Kalanick, according to some reports, with a Yahoo Finance reporter tweeting that the entrepreneur shed tears during the meeting.
Separately, a Delaware judge on Wednesday said an investor lawsuit targeting Kalanick will be moved to private arbitration, according to the Associated Press.
Kalanick had requested the lawsuit be put on hold so an arbitrator could consider claims by venture capital firm Benchmark Capital Partners against Uber. Benchmark has alleged Kalanick concealed material information about internal problems when investors gave the ex-CEO the authority to pick three new board members.
