Happy for him. I can only imagine how much being ousted from a company he created and raised to its current level must have hurt.
I do not look fondly at what a pain local transport was in cities without public transport (and even those with), and it is Travis (yes, Travis first, Uber second) that led this paradigm shift.
We can debate about Uber's business practices until the cows come home, but this is undeniable. And yes, other so-called 'nicer' / 'ethical' rideshare companies who didn't have to get their hands dirty because they profited from the ecosystem that Uber created exist precisely because of that.
You imply that being ousted from the company he created is not a direct consequence of his actions.
You imply that unethical behavior was helpful to Uber defeat awful local transport lobbies in some cities and improve transportation for the people.
I strongly disagree with both assumptions. I believe he was ousted for legitimate reasons that he is 100% individually responsible for and I believe that unethical behavior at Uber did nothing to help them win the battle against local lobbies (only to win against competitors).
I love how you completely gloss over Kalanick’s pivotal role in building one of the worst company cultures in SV, and how the tech culture at large suffered for it both in terms of PR and furthering the spread of douchebag ideology.
> I do not look fondly at what a pain local transport was in cities without public transport (and even those with), and it is Travis (yes, Travis first, Uber second) that led this paradigm shift.
How about we improve public transport? I know it’s unpopular to propose “socialist” ideas, but public transport works elsewhere in the world, why does it have to be so horrible here? Why does someone have to profit for something that you agree is a “pain?”
Thank you for providing a balanced view that’s so often missing on anything Uber related on HN. There is no denying that Travis threw ethics out of the window and took his paranoia way too far and never matured into a peacetime CEO. But every time a HN user takes an Uber, Lyft, Via, Grab, Ola etc etc you can thank Travis for his ruthlessness in fighting some of the most powerfully entrenched politicians (DeBlasio of NYC as an example) to get you a product type that’s loved by millions.
The question is if this paradigm shift was more valuable than all of the negative things he did. If he didn't come up with it, how do we know someone wouldn't have done it a year later? We shouldn't rewrite history, but I don't think he deserves all that much credit for thinking up an app for cabs with drivers not needing a permit and using their own car.
Uber has it's faults, but the degree they had to fight tooth and nail in every municipality over something that was so demonstrably better than what was there before is absurd and should be a lesson for every other industry.
And yes, voting with one's wallet is often the most effective form of voting we have.
Why? He was sitting on a goldmine and fucked it all up due to his own arrogance.
And all the unethical, getting-their-hands-dirty shit you mentioned seems of dubious value and certainly moreso now that he's been fired from his company; seems like all the same could've been achieved without hiring a team of assholes and without being one himself.
> I can only imagine how much being ousted from a company he created and raised to its current level must have hurt.
The market doesn't care about the feelings of executives. He was a net liability for Uber by the end, and if he couldn't mamage to keep himself valued by the market, that's on him.
Hard to determine if he lost confidence in "his vision" vs "current + future vision".
In his place, having lost direct control, I'd be tempted to cash out early solely because my influence was so diminished. Not because I was 100% sure the new direction wasn't right.
So I can't tell if this is an admission that Uber is over valued, or just a risk management decision around losing more direct control.
The value has already been cut in half from the peak raise, however him selling shares isn't a bad outlook for company.
He's no longer CEO, part of the deal is he won't be chairman, he will be for all intents and purposes not involved with the business and at arms length so why not cash out $1B dollars and go live your life instead of stewing waiting for something to happen.
Is there more value to be created? Perhaps and very likely. But I think Travis just wants to close this chapter as quickly as possible and move on.
Certainly to have $1-2B in the bank changes your life completely and he will go figure out what all of this means for him now.
Perhaps someone well versed in these matters could chime in but the somewhat bigger question is whether its a good indicator even for the economy at large, since Uber's reach is quite global.
Just today:
One of the biggest surprises of the U.S. stock market’s
relentless rally is how many individual investors have
run away from it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 25000 for
the first time on Thursday, punctuating a record-setting
period nearly unmatched in U.S. history. Yet throughout
the nearly nine-year surge in share prices, individual
investors have continued to yank money out of funds that
own U.S. stocks.
Nearly $1 trillion has been pulled from retail-investor
mutual funds that target U.S. stocks since the start of
2012, according to EPFR Global, a fund-tracking firm.
Over that same period through Wednesday, the S&P 500
soared 116% and, along with the Dow Industrials and Nasdaq
Composite Index, rose to 190 all-time highs.[1]
[1]
As Dow Tops 25000, Individual Investors Sit It Out
Since 2012, $1 trillion has been pulled from retail-
investor mutual funds that target U.S. stocks
Good for him. This is probably an unpopular opinion here, but I feel bad for this guy. Could have built a really great empire, and he probably would have if it was ten years ago.
But things are changing so fast nowadays and the masses have a lot of power (maybe too much than they deserve) and Uber unfortunately was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
When I talk to real people in the real world (not Twitter trolls and social justice warriors), most people appreciate how Uber changed the world for the better. He deserves every cent of his billions of dollars.
All happened under Travis's watch. One or two isolated incidents could be the fault of a few bad apples. But for this much bad stuff to happen, the CEO is asleep at the wheel. If he couldn't handle that responsibility, he should have bowed out sooner.
Did Uber change the world or did ubiquitous smartphones with GPS capability change the world?
While it seems obvious that Uber may have hastened the process is it really arguable that people would still be using their phone to call taxi dispatchers in 2018?
Seems to me he capably profited from a trend. Which is great. But did it unethically. Which is, obviously, not ethical. It's not clear the world really needs more ethically compromised multinational companies.
How does he deserves every cent of 1.4 billion dollars? He didn't do $1.4 billion worth of labour. His drivers, carmakers, road builders, telecom providers, smartphone makers and software engineers did $1.4 billion worth of labour. Kalanick found himself in a position where he could extract $1.4 billion worth of rent. He's just one fucking guy. It took a solid chunk of western civilization to make Uber possible. It was literally millions of years in the making.
If you wish to make an apple pie from search, you must first invent the universe.
I like Uber as a service. But you shouldn't make the argument of 10 years ago. They started in 2009, depends on smartphones to use the app. If it started 10 years beforehand it would be 1999, they wouldn't even be able to really start.
Perhaps the 'real people in the real world' would be offended and stop using Uber if they knew of Kalanick and his team's doings, not the least of which has been the intimidation and attempt to discredit a rape victim.
EDIT:
I appear to be mis-remembering Uber's actions - they did not initially share their denial of the victim's experiences with her, per the accounts I've found. In this setting, 'intimidation' may be too strong a word.
It feels like a lot of people are saying, through distorted lenses, that it is understandable that he didn't become the next big tech leader because this or that reason. (Almost as if they "knew all along that this would happen".) Why not be honest with ourselves instead? Let's just admit that our predictor functions got this one totally wrong, and that we should probably each individually, and maybe as a community, learn from this lesson and somehow correct whatever the bug in the function was.
There's always going to be a large element of chance and random error though. And he was pretty damn successful for awhile anyway, until the misdeeds caught up with him; who else that's emerged on the tech scene in the past decade was as successful?
Does anyone know what sort of restrictions he could have on his stake? Is he allowed to do this?
I would assume a CEO of a private company couldn't sell this much without being removed, but since he has already been removed, I wonder what incentives he would have to keep it.
Even if he had restrictions, I would expect the current board / management to waive such restrictions to entice him to sell in the tender, particularly since there was a floor to Softbank's tender offer. Travis' stake filled a lot of that floor. Removing some of his voting power to replace it with an active investor is a nice bonus, too.
Looks like both Benchmark and Travis Kalanick wanted to sell more stock than they were able to. Can someone explain who was able to sell stock and how their sell preferences were prioritized and executed? Was everyone able to sell at least one percent of their holdings, for example?
Personally, I really hope Uber does well. The leadership is new, they have more capital, and can do really well if they execute properly. No other company has that sort of a global reach in the on demand transport business right now. It's incredible that I can use the same app to hail a ride in so many cities and countries.
Sounds more like the former captain absconding with the largest life raft and much of the passengers' riches after being fired. Whether he sabotaged the ship as well remains to be seen, but bystanders have noted it appears to be listing a bit to one side...
[+] [-] kinkrtyavimoodh|8 years ago|reply
I do not look fondly at what a pain local transport was in cities without public transport (and even those with), and it is Travis (yes, Travis first, Uber second) that led this paradigm shift.
We can debate about Uber's business practices until the cows come home, but this is undeniable. And yes, other so-called 'nicer' / 'ethical' rideshare companies who didn't have to get their hands dirty because they profited from the ecosystem that Uber created exist precisely because of that.
[+] [-] soneca|8 years ago|reply
You imply that unethical behavior was helpful to Uber defeat awful local transport lobbies in some cities and improve transportation for the people.
I strongly disagree with both assumptions. I believe he was ousted for legitimate reasons that he is 100% individually responsible for and I believe that unethical behavior at Uber did nothing to help them win the battle against local lobbies (only to win against competitors).
[+] [-] amazingman|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] craigching|8 years ago|reply
How about we improve public transport? I know it’s unpopular to propose “socialist” ideas, but public transport works elsewhere in the world, why does it have to be so horrible here? Why does someone have to profit for something that you agree is a “pain?”
[+] [-] misun78|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adjkant|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeffbax|8 years ago|reply
And yes, voting with one's wallet is often the most effective form of voting we have.
[+] [-] datpuz|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] debt|8 years ago|reply
And all the unethical, getting-their-hands-dirty shit you mentioned seems of dubious value and certainly moreso now that he's been fired from his company; seems like all the same could've been achieved without hiring a team of assholes and without being one himself.
[+] [-] geofft|8 years ago|reply
The market doesn't care about the feelings of executives. He was a net liability for Uber by the end, and if he couldn't mamage to keep himself valued by the market, that's on him.
[+] [-] jellicle|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ProfessorLayton|8 years ago|reply
[1] https://twitter.com/EricNewcomer/status/949095493052768256
Still, a 1.4B cash out is $437,363 per day return for Kalanick. Wow!
[+] [-] hkmurakami|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matchagaucho|8 years ago|reply
That's a solid psychological finish line for some entrepreneurs.
The liquid Billion club gets a pretty cool Amex card with personal concierge.
[+] [-] paunchy|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tyingq|8 years ago|reply
In his place, having lost direct control, I'd be tempted to cash out early solely because my influence was so diminished. Not because I was 100% sure the new direction wasn't right.
So I can't tell if this is an admission that Uber is over valued, or just a risk management decision around losing more direct control.
[+] [-] raiyu|8 years ago|reply
He's no longer CEO, part of the deal is he won't be chairman, he will be for all intents and purposes not involved with the business and at arms length so why not cash out $1B dollars and go live your life instead of stewing waiting for something to happen.
Is there more value to be created? Perhaps and very likely. But I think Travis just wants to close this chapter as quickly as possible and move on.
Certainly to have $1-2B in the bank changes your life completely and he will go figure out what all of this means for him now.
[+] [-] wozniacki|8 years ago|reply
Just today:
[1]As Dow Tops 25000, Individual Investors Sit It Out
Since 2012, $1 trillion has been pulled from retail- investor mutual funds that target U.S. stocks
https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-dow-tops-25000-individual-in...
[+] [-] tw1010|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cocktailpeanuts|8 years ago|reply
But things are changing so fast nowadays and the masses have a lot of power (maybe too much than they deserve) and Uber unfortunately was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
When I talk to real people in the real world (not Twitter trolls and social justice warriors), most people appreciate how Uber changed the world for the better. He deserves every cent of his billions of dollars.
[+] [-] Ppw24|8 years ago|reply
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/uber-trav...
All happened under Travis's watch. One or two isolated incidents could be the fault of a few bad apples. But for this much bad stuff to happen, the CEO is asleep at the wheel. If he couldn't handle that responsibility, he should have bowed out sooner.
[+] [-] hyperbovine|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CPLX|8 years ago|reply
While it seems obvious that Uber may have hastened the process is it really arguable that people would still be using their phone to call taxi dispatchers in 2018?
Seems to me he capably profited from a trend. Which is great. But did it unethically. Which is, obviously, not ethical. It's not clear the world really needs more ethically compromised multinational companies.
[+] [-] Fricken|8 years ago|reply
If you wish to make an apple pie from search, you must first invent the universe.
https://youtu.be/7s664NsLeFM
[+] [-] rifung|8 years ago|reply
He deserves the money he made by making a company that was competitive by knowingly skirting laws? That seems like a bad precedent to set.
[+] [-] withdavidli|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ejstronge|8 years ago|reply
EDIT: I appear to be mis-remembering Uber's actions - they did not initially share their denial of the victim's experiences with her, per the accounts I've found. In this setting, 'intimidation' may be too strong a word.
[+] [-] user5994461|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shanth|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwaway-hn123|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] thisisit|8 years ago|reply
The planned sale is of 29% of his stake ie 3% of Uber. I guess 3% doesn't have the same flourish.
[+] [-] tw1010|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CydeWeys|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Balgair|8 years ago|reply
You mean the egregious sexual harassing and blatant attempts to obstruct justice?
Or do you mean the ability of people on the HN forums to predict the future?
[+] [-] gigatexal|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wmf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] outside1234|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CardenB|8 years ago|reply
I would assume a CEO of a private company couldn't sell this much without being removed, but since he has already been removed, I wonder what incentives he would have to keep it.
[+] [-] erichurkman|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] huac|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] msmith10101|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m3kw9|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] creator_lol|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] czardoz|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kbenson|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oculusthrift|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dawhizkid|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xandar11|8 years ago|reply
[1] http://horanaviation.com/Uber.html
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0D_Q8xvosM
[+] [-] perseusprime11|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cityzen|8 years ago|reply