Amid a sudden and seemingly endless stream of public relations disasters (senior execs leaving, sexual harrassment scandals, uncomfortable video clips, self-driving car fiascos, secret software programs, and mishandled DUIs), Uber opened up its books to Bloomberg, prompting one analyst to exclaim “this is a cash-burning machine.”
The last couple of months have been a constant PR battle for the CEO Travis Kalanick.
Another tale of sexism and unacceptable workplace behaviorin Silicon Valley company has emerged. This time it’s at Uber, according to an explosive blog post published on Sunday by a former company engineer named Susan Fowler Riggetti.
Uber’s newly-hired VP of engineering Amit Singhal was asked to, and did, resign on Monday after the company learned fromRecode that he was accused of sexual harassment shortly before leaving Google a year ago. Here’s more on the difficult position of former employers in this case.
A video showing Uber CEO Travis Kalanick rudely arguing with a long-time driver at the end of his ride was published by Bloomberg. “I need leadership help,” Kalanick said in an apologyhe issued shortly after.
Susan Fowler Rigetti, the former Uber engineer who wrote of discrimination, said she’s hired attorneys after a new law firm began to investigate her claims. Uber confirmed it has hired Perkins Coie, which reports to former A.G. Eric Holder, who’s leading the investigation.
Uber said on Thursday that it will finally apply for a DMV permit to test self-driving cars in California after its cars’ registrations were revoked in December because it refused to get the permit.
Charlie Miller, one of the two famous car hackers who joined Uber’s Advanced Technology Center in August 2015, announced he’s leaving the company
.
The New York Times uncovered a secret Uber program called Greyball, through which the company uses software and data toevade law enforcement in cities.
Keala Lusk, a former Uber engineer, published a blog post detailing how her female manager mistreated her
, signaling that the company’s problematic culture isn’t limited to the men who work there.
Ed Baker, Uber’s head of product and growth, resigned
. Though the reason is unclear, he was allegedly seen kissing another employee three years ago, which was anonymously communicated to board member Arianna Huffington, according to Recode.
A report outlines a trip by a group of Uber employees to a Seoul karaoke-escort bar in 2014, which included company CEO Travis Kalanick and his girlfriend, Gabi Holzwarth. After arriving, several male employees picked escorts to sit with, and went to sing karaoke. Uncomfortable, a female marketing manager, who was part of the group, left after a couple of minutes, while Holzwarth and Kalanick left after an hour.
California regulators have recommended that Uber be fined $1.13 million for failing to investigate and/or suspend drivers who are reported by a passenger to be intoxicated. The state requires ride-hailing companies to have a zero-tolerance policy for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A new report says Uber used a secret program dubbed “Hell’ to track Lyft drivers to see if they were driving for both ride-hailing services and otherwise stifle competition. Only a small group of Uber employees, including CEO Travis Kalanick, knew about the program, according to a story in The Information, which was based on an anonymous source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
