Former Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick is stepping further away from the company he co-founded and helped build into a giant in the ride-hailing industry.
On Tuesday, Uber said Kalanick will leave its board of directors, effective Dec. 31. Kalanick said in a statement that with Uber having gone public earlier this year, “it seems like the right moment for me to focus on my current business and philanthropic pursuits.”
Travis Kalanick leaves federal court in San Francisco on Feb. 7, 2018. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Kalanick is now involved with CloudKitchens, a company that rents out shared spaces for restaurants and businesses that do food deliveries.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a company statement that he was “enormously grateful for Travis’ vision and tenacity while building Uber, and for his expertise as a board member.”
Kalanick stepped down from his CEO job at Uber in 2017 following multiple reports of sexual harassment and the formation of what was often called a “bro culture” at the company. Uber also had numerous run-ins with law enforcement officials and federal regulators during Kalanick’s CEO tenure.
With Kalanick leaving Uber’s board, the company will have eight remaining board members, including Khosrowshahi and Uber co-founder Garrett Camp. Earlier this year, Uber lost two other directors when Arianna Huffington and Benchmark Capital general partner Matt Cohler gave up their company board seats.
Kalanick’s departure from Uber’s board comes on the heels of him selling almost all of his Uber stock. Since a lockup period of early Uber shareholders to sell their stock ended in November, Kalanick has sold approximately $2.5 billion of his Uber stake, leaving him with about 5.8 million Uber shares, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dan Ives, managing director at Webush Securities, said he was not surprised to see Kalanick leave Uber’s board after he sold so much of his company’s stock.
“It makes sense for Uber and Kalanick to go their separate ways at this time as it would be a distraction if he remained in the boardroom going forward,” Ives said.
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