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Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
(CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for
Scour Scour may refer to: Hydrodynamic processes * Hydrodynamic scour, the removal of sediment such as sand and silt from around an object * Bridge scour, erosion of soil around at the base of a bridge pier or abutments via the flow of air, ice, or ...
, a
peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...
file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...
application company, and was the co-founder of Red Swoosh, a peer-to-peer content delivery network that was sold to Akamai Technologies in 2007. Kalanick was CEO of Uber from 2010 to 2017. He resigned from Uber in 2017, after growing pressure resulting from public reports of the company's unethical corporate culture, including allegations that he ignored reports of sexual harassment at the company. Kalanick retained his seat on the board of directors until he resigned the seat on December 31, 2019. In the weeks leading up to the resignation, Kalanick sold off approximately 90% of his shares in Uber, for a profit of about $2.5 billion. Following the sale, in 2017, Kalanick was ranked 238th on the
Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is p ...
list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.6 billion. In 2018, Kalanick started a venture fund named 10100, intended to invest in e-commerce, innovation and real estate in emerging markets like China and India. That same year, Kalanick announced an investment of nearly $150 million in real estate redevelopment company City Storage Systems; he also announced that he would serve as its CEO. The company operates a ghost kitchen startup under the name CloudKitchens, which was valued at $15billion as of 2021.


Early life and education

Kalanick was born on August 6, 1976, and grew up in
Northridge, California Northridge is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The community is home to California State University, Northridge, and the Northridge Fashion Center. Originally named Zelzah by settlers in 1908, the ...
.Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine (July 2013)
"Resistance Is Futile"
. '' Inc.''
Kalanick's parents are Bonnie Renée Horowitz Kalanick (née Bloom) and Donald Edward Kalanick. Bonnie, whose family were
Viennese Jews The history of the Jews in Vienna, Austria, goes back over eight hundred years. There is evidence of a Jewish presence in Vienna from the 12th century onwards. At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, Vienna was on ...
who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century, worked in retail advertising for the ''
Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''D ...
''.Anthony, Andrew (December 20, 2014)
"Travis Kalanick: Uber-capitalist who wants to have the world in the back of his cabs"
. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
''.
Donald, from a Slovak- Austrian
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
family whose grandparents immigrated to the United States from the Austrian city of
Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...
, was a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles.''Independent Press-Telegram'': "Betrothals Told"
. Long Beach, California, p. 118 · January 16, 1966
Kalanick has two half-sisters, one of whom is the mother of actress Allisyn Ashley Arm, and a brother who is a firefighter. In middle and high school, Kalanick was known to be competitive and driven to win. As a teenager, Kalanick sold knives
door-to-door Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a ...
for direct sales company Cutco. At 18, he started a test preparation company called "New Way Academy" with the father of a classmate. After graduating from Granada Hills Charter High School, Kalanick studied computer engineering and business economics at the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
(UCLA). While studying at UCLA, Kalanick was a member of Theta Xi fraternity. In 1998, he dropped out to work at the
start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
Scour full-time.


Early ventures


Scour (1998–2000)

In 1998, Kalanick, along with Michael Todd and Vince Busam, dropped out of UCLA to work for Dan Rodrigues, founder of Scour Inc., a
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...
search engine, and Scour Exchange, a
peer-to-peer file sharing Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program th ...
service. Kalanick handled sales and marketing for Scour. He has referred to himself as a co-founder of the company, but the other co-founders have disputed this. After months of growth, Scour was strapped for cash and sought funding from
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
ist investors Ronald Burkle and Michael Ovitz. Negotiations were contentious and Ovitz eventually sued Scour for breach of contract. Scour was forced to accept unfavorable terms for the investment, and Ovitz acquired majority control over the company. The situation would sour Kalanick's view of investor-founder relations. In 2000, the
Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distri ...
(MPAA), the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA), and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) brought a $250 billion lawsuit against Scour, alleging copyright infringement. In September 2000, Scour filed for
Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...
bankruptcy to protect itself from the lawsuit.


Red Swoosh (2001–2007)

In 2001, with Michael Todd, Kalanick started Red Swoosh, another peer-to-peer file-sharing company. Kalanick called it his "revenge business" against the MPAA and RIAA for the lawsuit that killed Scour. Kalanick's business model was that media companies would pay Red Swoosh to provide legitimate copies of media files like music and videos to customers, and the company developed technology to make the transfer of such large files more efficient. Kalanick had difficulty securing funding as the company was launched right after the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...
burst. As a result, Red Swoosh ran with minimal month-to-month
cash flow A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money: *a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...
, and by August 2001, some employees had gone months without a paycheck. In September 2001, Red Swoosh used approximately $110,000 of the company's payroll tax withholdings to fund day-to-day operations. There are differing accounts of what led to the decision and the fallout that ensued. In 2014, ''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...
'' reported that Kalanick publicly accused co-founder Michael Todd of making the decision without his knowledge, while Todd stated it was a decision they made together. The article noted that "an email sent by Kalanick at the time and obtained by Business Insider appears to demonstrate his participation in the tax plan." In a 2017 article for ''The'' ''New York Times'', Mike Isaac reported that Kalanick and Todd made the decision together, and that "friends and advisors" had warned Kalanick that using tax withholdings in this way could be considered
tax fraud Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
. In his 2019 book ''Super Pumped'', Isaac wrote that an unnamed employee made the decision, for which Kalanick was blamed following the employee's departure from the company. According to this version, it was only after the fact that he was advised it could be tax fraud. In the end, a second round of funding provided enough cash to repay the Internal Revenue Service, and no one was ever prosecuted. The incident caused significant tension between the co-founders, and Todd left the company by the end of September that year. Kalanick accused him of trying to solicit a hiring offer for himself and other Red Swoosh employees with Sony Ventures behind Kalanick's back. Shortly after Todd's departure, Kalanick moved back into his parents' house in a bid to save money, later complaining that "it sucked," because he "wasn't getting ladies". Kalanick apparently went without a salary while at Red Swoosh for over three years. By 2002, Red Swoosh was down to only two employees: Kalanick and former Scour engineer Evan Tsang. The company continued to have difficulty securing funding, surviving via a series of last-minute deals with various investors. In early 2005, Todd helped recruit Tsang to
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
, resulting in public embarrassment for the already-struggling Red Swoosh and the loss of a potentially lucrative deal with AOL. After getting to know Kalanick during a contentious exchange on an
internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least tempora ...
later that year, American investor
Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to '' Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 lis ...
invested $1.8 million into the company, leading to further investments from Cuban's contacts. Kalanick was able to hire more programmers, and around 2006, he moved to Thailand with his software team for two months. In 2007, competitor Akamai Technologies acquired Red Swoosh for approximately $19 million. Kalanick made $2 million on the deal after taxes and moved to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.


Startup investments

In San Francisco, Kalanick used the money he had made from the sale of Red Swoosh to make small investments in startups. He positioned himself as a "fixer" for startup problems such as talking to investors or hiring new staff. He primarily invested in tech startups like Expensify, Livefyre, Crowdflower, and Formspring. Unsatisfied with only being an investor, he began to treat his Castro District apartment – termed the "JamPad" – as an informal
salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ...
for young tech enthusiasts.


Uber (2009–2019)


Founding and growth (2009–2014)

In 2009, Kalanick co-founded ridesharing company Uber with Canadian entrepreneur Garrett Camp, co-founder of StumbleUpon. Camp, a frequent guest at Kalanick's home, had become frustrated with
taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
services in San Francisco, and had found hiring drivers with upscale black car services inconvenient and expensive. Eventually he developed the concept of a smartphone app that could hail luxury vehicles directly from the user's
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
. He discussed the concept with Kalanick, who agreed to act as a "mega advisor" to the company, originally called UberCab. As neither Camp nor Kalanick wanted to run the company directly, Ryan Graves was brought on as
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
(CEO) at launch. He held the position for ten months before being removed in favor of Kalanick. Camp and Graves each signed over a large portion of their shares to Kalanick when he took the CEO position, giving him a significant degree of control over the company. In October 2010, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency served UberCab with a
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...
order, warning that they were in breach of regulations in the city and could face significant fines if they continued to operate as a taxicab company without appropriate permits. Kalanick directed the company to ignore the order and continue operating, but changed the company's name from UberCab to Uber to prevent it from being accused of falsely advertising itself as a taxi company. In February 2011, Kalanick met with Bill Gurley, an investor from venture capital firm Benchmark, and secured an $11 million investment for 20 percent of Uber (then valued at $50 million) for its
Series A round A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exc ...
of funding. The company embarked on its Series B round in late 2011, raising an additional $32 million. Kalanick's experiences with investors at Scour and Red Swoosh had made him wary of investors who might interfere with his control of Uber, so he ensured that the terms for these and future investments strongly favored himself and Uber. He strictly limited the amount of financial information investors could access, and the shares for new investors had a tenth of the voting power of the shares held by Kalanick, Camp, and Graves. In 2013, he obtained a $250 million investment from Google Ventures, with a valuation of $3.5 billion. Kalanick also made a point of undermining potential investments into competitor Lyft, poaching them for Uber.


Growing difficulties and exit from Uber (2014–2017)

By 2014, Kalanick's reputation was beginning to suffer as a result of his ruthless attitude towards competitors, regulators, customers, employees, and Uber's drivers. By this time, Gurley, once a supporter of Kalanick's, had become frustrated with his reckless corporate spending and overriding of the chief financial officer and chief legal officer. Corporate culture at Uber under Kalanick was grueling. Employees were expected to work nights and weekends regularly without additional compensation, and
conference call A conference call is a telephone call in which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call or set up so that the called party merely listens into ...
s were often scheduled at all times of the night. Kalanick favored employees who were willing to do anything to advance in the company, even if it resulted in chronic infighting. He authorized the use of
industrial espionage Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governm ...
tactics against competitors and regulators, including the Greyball blacklisting program, and encouraged the development and use of rider-surveillance programs. Throughout his tenure as CEO, Kalanick had tight control over the company's board of directors, once telling Tim Cook from
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...
that he had intentionally structured the board and hand-picked its members to allow him to "do what I want." In 2016, he negotiated an option to appoint another three board members at his discretion. Journalists and the public alike criticized Kalanick regularly for setting Uber up with a " bro culture" awash in
toxic masculinity Toxic masculinity is a set of certain male behaviors associated with harm to society and men themselves. Traditional stereotypes of men as socially dominant, along with related traits such as misogyny and homophobia, can be considered "toxic" d ...
,
bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an i ...
, and
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced ...
, which in turn influenced attitudes in
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Count ...
generally. In a 2014 interview with men's magazine '' GQ'', he joked that the company should be called "Boob-er" for all the female attention it was bringing him; the remark was frequently criticized in the press as an example of his toxic masculinity. Executives were known to expense
strip club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, and can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style. Am ...
visits to corporate accounts, a practice jokingly referred to as "Tits on Travis". Surveys commissioned by Uber
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
personnel in late 2016 showed that customers appreciated Uber as a service, but had a strongly negative perception of Kalanick. Shortly after the survey results were first discussed at Uber in February 2017, ''
Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' published a video of Kalanick berating an Uber driver at the end of a ride, following a disagreement about falling driver income. Kalanick apologized for the incident to company employees in an email that was later posted to the company blog, stating that he felt he needed to "grow up." Later that year, ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...
'' reported that Kalanick had developed "a reputation as an abrasive leader". Sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination were rife at Uber corporate headquarters during Kalanick's tenure as CEO. The issues went unaddressed by the
human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...
department (HR), and Kalanick in particular was known to protect his favored employees from consequences for this type of behavior. Much of this behavior became public in early 2017. That February, it was reported that Kalanick had full knowledge of sexual harassment allegations at Uber and did nothing. After these reports emerged, Kalanick announced that Uber would "conduct an urgent investigation into these allegations." In the same week, following a report from ''
Recode ''Recode'' (formerly ''Re/code'') is a technology news website that focused on the business of Silicon Valley. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher founded it in January 2014, after they left Dow Jones and the similar website they had previously co ...
,'' Kalanick asked his newly-hired
direct report In a hierarchal business organization, especially in a matrix management structure, the relationship between a worker and their direct supervisor or leader can be classified as solid-line reporting (also called direct reporting) or dotted-line rep ...
, SVP of Engineering Amit Singhal, to resign; Singhal had failed to disclose that he had resigned from Google following sexual harassment claims. In March 2017, it was reported that in 2014, Kalanick had been part of a group of Uber executives who visited a karaoke bar in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
that featured escorts. A female employee who was present made a complaint to HR, but little came of it. That summer, it emerged that Kalanick and other top Uber executives had accessed the private medical files of a woman who alleged she was raped by an Uber driver in India; Kalanick had made comments doubting her account as a result of information from the file. Although many drivers and corporate employees had requested the addition of a tipping option in the app for years, Kalanick opposed it, believing it interfered with the otherwise "frictionless" payment process. Following a pair of class-action lawsuits in
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
and
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
about the employment status of drivers, Uber was mandated to explain its position on tips, which it did via a blog post that argued that the "connection between tipping and quality of service can be weak. Many people tip because it’s expected." Kalanick's refusal to allow for in-app tipping "contributed to the perception of Uber as the unfeeling, win-at-all-costs player in ride-hailing, particularly compared to Lyft," which did allow tipping. In December 2016, it was announced that Kalanick would join several other high-profile CEOs as an economic advisor on for the Strategic and Policy Forum of President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
, organized by
Stephen Schwarzman Stephen Allen Schwarzman (born February 14, 1947) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group, a global private equity firm he established in 1985 with Peter G. Peterson, former chairman and CEO of ...
, a businessman with
The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate ...
. Kalanick publicly opposed President Trump's executive order banning travel from select countries, but wrote in a news post on the Uber website that, as a member of the advisory council, he believed he would be able to directly address his concerns with the President and advocate for immigrants. After continued pressure, Kalanick announced in an email to Uber employees that he would step down from the council.


Resignation from Uber and Benchmark lawsuit (2017–2019)

At the end of May 2017, Kalanick's parents were involved in a boating accident that seriously injured his father and resulted in the death of his mother. On June 11, the final report of the independent investigation into Uber's sexual harassment issues was presented to Uber's top management. The scathing report was "hundreds of pages" long and included a dozen pages of recommendations, most prominently that Kalanick needed to take a leave of absence and reduce his level of control over Uber's operations. On June 13, 2017, it was announced that Kalanick would take an indefinite leave of absence from Uber, although he continued to work without the approval of the company's board. On June 20, 2017, Kalanick resigned as CEO after five major investors, including Benchmark Capital, demanded his resignation in a letter. Uber added an in-app tipping option a short time later. Following his resignation, Kalanick retained his seat on Uber's board of directors. He continued to attempt to interfere with company operations by contacting employees and board members asking for internal company information and attempting to sway their voting regarding his replacement. The executive leadership threatened to quit ''en masse''; Kalanick's access to company servers was stripped. On August 10, 2017, ''Axios'' reported that Benchmark was suing Kalanick for "fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty," in an attempt to remove Kalanick's residual right to name two further board members. Benchmark argued the agreement was invalid due to withholding of material information prior to the vote to allow him to do so. The lawsuit was controversial in Silicon Valley; it is unusual for an investor to sue a founder directly. The court ruled in the favor of Kalanick to move the case to
arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or ' arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...
on August 30. In a public statement responding to the ruling, Kalanick said that "Benchmark's false allegations are wholly without merit and have unnecessarily harmed Uber and its shareholders." Kalanick initially supported former
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
CEO Jeff Immelt as his successor. Immelt was open to allowing Kalanick to retain some role in Uber's operations, while the other major candidate, Meg Whitman of
Hewlett Packard Enterprise The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) is an American multinational information technology company based in Spring, Texas, United States. HPE was founded on November 1, 2015, in Palo Alto, California, as part of the splitting of the ...
, intended to shut Kalanick out of any operational role. However, Kalanick soured on Immelt after Immelt's presentation went badly. Immelt pulled out of the running after one director privately told him he had no chance at getting the job. Kalanick unexpectedly threw his support behind a "
dark horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...
" candidate,
Expedia Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and ...
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, even though Khosrowshahi had strongly opposed any further operational role for Kalanick. During his presentation, Khosrowshahi included a slide entitled, "There cannot be two CEOs." Uber began to negotiate a tender offer with Japanese software conglomerate
SoftBank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...
in September 2017. The offer included an agreement to add six new seats to Uber's board, which would dilute Kalanick's influence over it. On September 29, Kalanick unilaterally appointed Ursula Burns and
John Thain John Alexander Thain (born May 26, 1955) is an American businessman, investment banker, and former chair and CEO of the CIT Group. Thain was the last chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch before its merger with Bank of America ...
to the board. In January 2018, Benchmark dropped its lawsuit against Kalanick to allow the deal to proceed. The share purchase valued Uber at $48 billion. On December 24, 2019 Kalanick announced his resignation from the board effective December 31, 2019. In the weeks leading up to this announcement, Kalanick sold off more than $2.5 billion of Uber stock holding, which amounted to about 90% of his shares. Following the sale, in 2017, Kalanick was ranked 238th on the
Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is p ...
list of richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.6 billion.


Post-Uber (2018–present)

On March 7, 2018, Kalanick announced via his Twitter account that he would start a venture fund, 10100 (pronounced 'ten-one-hundred'), focused on job growth in emerging markets like China and
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. Shortly after the announcement of his venture fund, Kalanick announced that his fund had invested $150 million in City Storage Systems (CSS), a company focused on the redevelopment of distressed real estate assets; he also announced that he would serve as its CEO. CSS subsidiary CloudKitchens, a ghost kitchen managing company, took a controlling interest in U.K.-based startup FoodStars in June 2018. Kalanick personally invested $300 million in the startup, and in November 2019, the
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
reported that Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund completed an agreement with CloudKitchens in January 2019 to invest $400 million in the company. In January 2022,
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...
reported that the company had raised new funding valued at $15 billion. Since 2018, Kalanick has served on an advisory board for Neom,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
’s plan to build a futuristic "mega city" in the desert.


Personal life

Kalanick owns a townhouse in the upper hills of San Francisco's Castro District, which was nicknamed "the Jam Pad" and had its own Twitter account. In 2019, Kalanick purchased a penthouse in New York City for $36.4 million. In April 2020, he bought a home in Los Angeles for $43.3 million. Kalanick dated violinist Gabi Holzwarth from 2014 to late 2016. Kalanick has been described as a passionate
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
and a fan of author
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
. However, Kalanick supported Obamacare because it allows Uber drivers, as independent contractors, to maintain health insurance as they transition between jobs.


In popular culture

In the
Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global ...
series ''
Super Pumped ''Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber'' is a 2019 book by New York Times journalist Mike Isaac. The book covers the events between the founding of Uber and its initial public offering in 2019. Background The book was based on Mike Isaac's cove ...
'' (2022), Kalanick is portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalanick, Travis 1976 births 21st-century American businesspeople American billionaires American chairpersons of corporations American computer programmers American corporate directors American Internet company founders American libertarians American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Czech descent American people of Slovak descent American software engineers American technology chief executives American technology company founders American transportation businesspeople Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Businesspeople in software Directors of Uber Engineers from California Living people Granada Hills Charter High School alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni