
Two Executives to Leave Uber, Adding to Departures - flyingramen
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/business/jeff-jones-leaves-uber-ride-sharing-president.html
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alistproducer2
All the speculation around the turmoil over seems to be missing one key
component. I think a bigger driving force then this sexual harassment and CEO
antics is the waymo lawsuit. Uber itself has acknowledged that without self-
driving capabilities the company will most likely not find profitability. From
reporting I've read, it appears the waymo lawsuit has a high probability of
success.

If the waymo lawsuit essentially forces Uber to start its self driving program
back from scratch then the path to self-driving viability has essentially been
scrapped. To me, this is a better explanation of the recent spat of high-level
exits from the company.

~~~
teekert
Maybe I'm being naive but how can a company that replaces a whole layer of
management and overhead of traditional Taxi companies by an App _not_ reach
profitability? Is maintaining an app that expensive? I can't imagine.

~~~
emodendroket
The overhead is not as large as you're imagining.
[http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/can-uber-ever-
deliver...](http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/can-uber-ever-deliver-part-
one-understanding-ubers-bleak-operating-economics.html)

> By contrast, in the hundred years since the first motorized taxi, there has
> been no evidence of significant scale economies in the urban car service
> industry. That explains why successful operators never expanded to other
> cities and why there was no natural tendency towards concentration in
> individual markets. Drivers, vehicles and fuel account for 85% of urban car
> service costs. None of these costs decline significantly as companies grow.
> As the P&L data above demonstrates, Uber has not discovered a magical new
> way to drive down unit costs.

~~~
dagw
_That explains why successful operators never expanded to other cities_

Sweden's largest taxi company currently operates in 50+ cities in Sweden,
Norway and Denmark. So "never" is probably the wrong word.

~~~
cynicalkane
Sweden famously deregulated their taxi industry. American taxi regulations are
awful--I can't compare them to other countries, but they're terrible in an
absolute sense, and they vary widely by city. In New York, they even change
depending on where you are and what color the taxi is (yellow ones and green
ones have different rules). So all these city-by-city variations become a big
diseconomy of scale.

~~~
1024core
The reason for the US' horrible state of affairs: corruption. Ever since
regulation of the taxi industry started, the 'players' in each city decided to
use this artificial constraint to enrich themselves. Medallions (the right to
drive a cab in a city) were doled out to the politically connected, who, in
turn, rented them out to the actual workers (drivers) for a tidy sum. It was a
great scam.

If there's one positive thing about Uber, it's that they brought an end to
this medallion monopoly.

~~~
emodendroket
Come on; that's too simple. Unregulated gypsy cabs present a real risk to
people.

~~~
dagw
The medallion system helps create gypsy cabs. If starting a legal and licensed
taxi service just required filing the same type of paperwork as any other
similar company, and becoming a regulated taxi driver was more like becoming a
truck driver you'd probably see a lot less gypsy cabs.

~~~
emodendroket
I'd argue there's also an interest in not filling the streets with excess cab
capacity.

~~~
galdosdi
Absolutely agree. Since Uber and friends, congestion has become worse in NYC.

However, a simple toll would be fairer, as it would treat all cars equally,
regardless of whether they are or are not taxis

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emodendroket
I don't think it's "fairer" to treat personal and commercial traffic the same.

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alphonsegaston
On the story about Jeff Jones, someone commented that Kalanick has a stock
arrangement that gives him control of the board. Does anyone know if this is
true? I can't see how they can let this hemorrhaging continue when the problem
is obviously Kalanick's leadership. But it shows no signs of stopping.

The only other thing I could think of is that the board is complicit in
something worse than what's been exposed, and is afraid Kalanick will blow
things up if they move on him.

EDIT: BBC is now reporting that two separate internal sources at Uber say
Kalanick will step down when a new COO is in place.

[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39323828](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39323828)

~~~
kelukelugames
Blind says Kalanick is stepping down.

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rattray
Who is Blind?

~~~
daegloe
@kelukelugames may be referring to the "anonymous work talk" app:
[https://us.teamblind.com](https://us.teamblind.com)

Which, it's been reported, is widely used among Uber employees:
[https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/25/ubersecret/](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/25/ubersecret/)

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ziszis
Now every departure is viewed with suspicion. With a 10,000 person company
there is going to be exec departures, but even normal departures will have
rumors attached to them (why did they really leave? Isn't the timing odd? Was
something about to come out?)

Every senior person leaving Uber now has to manage their image as they leave.
And every journalist is digging to see if there is any dirt.

~~~
smallgovt
I'm surprised this comment is so low. In a 10,000 person company with 100
"senior executives", you'll naturally see 20 execs leave every year even if
the company has a healthy 5-year retention.

Sure, you'd expect to see this churn ramp and plateau over time, but something
like 10 "senior execs" leaving every year doesn't strike me as out of the
ordinary.

I think it's important to note that stories like this will be reported whether
or not it's based in truth because it's what certain people want to believe.

~~~
swang
where do you get your numbers from? saying 20% of senior executives leaving a
company in a year seems to be a high figure.

let's set that aside for a moment, because you're saying this is completely
normal for a large company. but to me this seems like a pretty abnormal event
worth reporting. we're talking about a pretty large number of senior
executives leaving within a very small timeframe. this seems to be why it's
making the tech news sites, since it's not just the normal churn of employees
leaving.

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jpatokal
In case the name doesn't ring a bell, Brian was one of the creators of what
became Google Earth and spent over 10 years at Google before jumping ship to
Uber in 2015.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_McClendon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_McClendon)

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rattray
Doesn't seem like much of a real story:

> Mr. McClendon is departing amicably from Uber and will be an adviser to the
> company. ... His exit has been in the works for some time

~~~
throwawaymaps
Mm, perhaps. Brian Mc only joined Uber in June 2015 as part of their massive
push into maps. Another senior maps exec, Marc Prioleau, joined in December
2015 and last month left for Mapbox. Two departures after a short time
suggests something not right.

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umeshunni
"In a statement, he said he was moving back to Kansas, where he is from, to
explore politics. His exit has been in the works for some time, and his last
day at Uber is March 28."

~~~
MaxfordAndSons
Mmm great just who we need to revitalize the Democratic party, former Uber
execs /s.

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tyingq
If you're getting the paywall, as I did, another story on the same topic:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-vp-of-maps-brian-
mcclend...](http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-vp-of-maps-brian-mcclendon-is-
leaving-2017-3)

Includes a list of other recent Uber departures.

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omarforgotpwd
Feels like Uber's next fundraising event may be a down round...

~~~
abvdasker
A down round with Uber's losses means that the company will probably not
survive.

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DigitalSea
Travis is destroying Uber and his ego is so big, he won't step down which
would save the image of Uber somewhat. What a trainwreck, I deleted the app
and quite a few of my friends did as well. What a disgusting company and the
way it's being run is just gross negligence.

~~~
rjbwork
Apparently my phone summoned an uber while it was in my pocket for a straight
hour while I was at lunch the other day, and I was charged 6 dollars and
refused a refund.

Permanently deleted, without regret.

~~~
raverbashing
Which is indistinguishable from a "crank call" Uber request (from Uber's point
of view)

Not saying it is the case, but owing up to one's mistakes is the least one can
do

~~~
vkou
If I hail a taxi cab, by butt-dialing their line, they are extremely unlikely
to interpret it as a crank call.

At least, the kind of crank call where they'd need to send a cab.

Either way, please lock your devices.

~~~
raverbashing
If you dial a taxi you need to provide your pickup place and name usually,
accidentally dialing it won't make a car get to you. Not sure that's what you
mean.

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jlebrech
there should be a ride sharing app that gets it's money from the city's
congestion budget and reward those that pick each other up.

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brightball
It's because they switched to MySQL isn't it?

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jbverschoor
Unter

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Axsuul
Unter is the German word for under while Über can mean above

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omginternets
That's the joke.

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renesd
Über is the joke?

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matt4077
Uber is going Under

