[TusharK]

Dara Khosrowshahi who currently heads the online travel company - Expedia is said to be appointed as the new CEO of Uber. Neither Uber nor Expedia have officially confirmed this yet.



According to media reports, Khosrowshahi was among two other finalists who were being considered for Uber's top job. Initially, Meg Whitmann of Hewlett Packard Enterprise was touted for the lead role, however negotiations failed after both parties couldn't come to an agreement. On Sunday, the former chief of General Electric, Jeffrey R. Immelt withdrew from the race leaving Khosrowshahi as the new favourite.

Khosrowshahi has been heading Expedia since 2005. He is said to have a massive task on his hands once he takes over as the CEO of the ride-hailing company which has been marred by multiple scandals in the recent past. The company has been without a leader since June 2017 when co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down under pressure from the management. While Kalanick remains on Uber's board, the venture capital firm - Benchmark, that is a major shareholder is looking to force him off the board and has sued the former CEO.

Source: The New York Times

[GTO]

Khosrowshahi was actually the 3rd choice, after Meg Whitman & Jeff Immelt. One thing for sure : Khosrowshahi is not going to let Travis Kalanick play any tricks. Kalanick has been busy trying to get back into a leadership role again at Uber. Here's an excellent article on the CEO search:

Inside Uber’s Wild Ride in a Search of a New C.E.O.

By last Friday afternoon, most of Uber’s eight directors had gathered in San Francisco for a board meeting. Their agenda was simple: Pick a new chief executive for the ride-hailing company.

What unfolded over the next 72 hours was anything but straightforward.

In discussions at the Four Seasons Hotel downtown and at the offices of the private equity firm TPG Capital, which holds an Uber board seat, directors operated under the cloak of secrecy. They spoke in a kind of code about some of the candidates, limiting knowledge of the shortlist to a handful of people.

By Sunday morning, one of the finalists, the former General Electric chief Jeffrey R. Immelt, had publicly pulled out. Some board members were behind another finalist, Meg Whitman, chief of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and some people close to the process had taken steps to prepare for an announcement of her appointment.

[ajmat]

Apparently, he has a very influential network in Silicon Valley and in the VC community.

More here