Uber chief to take leave from company

Uber boss Travis Kalanick plans to take time away from the company, and could return in a diminished role.

The move comes after a review of management and practices at the firm, which is facing a number of scandals.

The review was sparked by a former employee's claims the company ignored her complaints about sexual harassment.

Uber's board voted unanimously on Sunday in favour of the recommendations from the review.

Some of Mr Kalanick's responsibilities could be shifted to other executives.

In the email to staff, Mr Kalanick said the decision to take leave, which also comes after the sudden death of his mother in a boating accident, is part of an effort to create "Uber 2.0".

"For Uber 2.0 to succeed there is nothing more important than dedicating my time to building out the leadership team," Mr Kalanick wrote. "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."

Mr Kalanick's email did not say how long he would be away from the firm.
When that blog post by ex-employee Susan Fowler dropped on a quiet Sunday afternoon, I doubt anybody at the company thought it would lead to this. I certainly didn't.

That moment marked the beginning of the crisis at Silicon Valley's most talked about start-up.

In the middle of it all, Travis Kalanick, a man who, rightly or wrongly, now symbolises what people feel is the very worst of tech "bro" culture. A man flush with money and an unrelenting ambition that slowed for no-one. Until now.

Uber's problems were enough, most argued, for Mr Kalanick to make this decision. But coupled with the tragic death of his mother, the 40-year-old is quite understandably not in a position to give the company the attention it so desperately needs.

Since I started reporting this story I've been told how this problem is not limited to Uber. It's across the tech industry far and wide. With that in mind, it will perhaps be encouraging to the rank-and-file at every tech firm that this fiasco began with one act: a woman brave enough to speak out.

Uber, a ride hailing company based in San Francisco, has been rocked by a series of controversies in recent months, including an investigation of its business practices and a lawsuit from Google's parent company, Alphabet, over alleged theft of trade secrets related to driverless cars.

It also encountered pushback when it changed its policies around collecting user data.

Its corporate culture has been criticised for being aggressive, and this was inflamed earlier this year when Mr Kalanick was caught on video berating an Uber driver who voiced concerns about fares.

He said in response to the video: "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up."