Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will take a leave of absence amidst multiple scandals and personal tragedy

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has said he will take a leave of absence from the ride-hailing company, in an email to staff that did not reveal a return date.

In the meantime, Uber will be run by a management committee that still has to grapple with high-level executive departures and multiple scandals, including allegations of sexual harassment, a toxic workplace culture, and accusations that it tracked rival drivers.

But it’s not going to be business as usual when Kalanick returns. According to an advance copy of a report prepared for Uber’s board, he will see reduced duties and have an independent chair appointed to serve as a check on his power.

Kalanick expressed a desire to work on himself and become better during his time away.

“The ultimate responsibility, for where we’ve gotten and how we’ve gotten here, rests on my shoulders,” he wrote in an email to Uber employees. “For Uber 2.0 to succeed, there is nothing more important than dedicating my time to building out the leadership team. But if we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve.”

This is also a difficult time for Kalanick personally. His parents were recently involved in a boating accident that left his mother dead and put his father in hospital, and Kalanick cited the need to take some time off to grieve as well.

As part of the fallout from Uber’s troubles, Emil Michael, Uber’s Senior Vice President of Business and a close Kalanick confidant, confirmed that he was leaving after it surfaced that he and Kalanick had obtained the medical records of a woman in India who was raped by an Uber driver.

Uber brought on former US attorney general Eric Holder, now at law firm Covington & Burling, to lead an investigation after Susan Fowler’s account of harassment went viral, and the company’s board has voted unanimously to adopt all of the probe’s recommendations. You can read the full list here. 

Among the recommendations including changes to senior leadership, enhanced board oversight, and the creation of a diversity advisory board to ensure that efforts to promote hiring diversity are properly implemented.

Source: The Verge

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