[Update] – Uber has officially confirmed the appointment of Dara Khosrowshahi as the new CEO.
Uber finally has a new CEO. The US based ride hailing service has picked Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia, as its CEO. Khosrowshahi’s appointment comes after former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick was asked to resign by five major investors in June.
According to Recode, the board met over the weekend to choose between Khosrowshahi and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman. Travis Kalanick had taken an indefinite leave of absence amid controversies prior to his official resignation. Khosrowshahi was an unnamed contender but he has been leading Expedia since 2005 and has been credited with expanding company’s global presence through several online travel booking brands, which include Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Hotwire. The 48 year old CEO is an Iran-born American who graduated from Brown University with an engineering degree.
It must be noted that Uber is yet to officially announce Khosrowshahi’s appointment as CEO. With a valuation of nearly $70 billion, Uber has been making the headline for all the wrong reasons ranging from sexual harassment allegations, firings related to a workplace culture investigation and Kalanick’s departure. Although Kalanick is not involved in Uber’s day to day operations anymore, he still has a seat on the board, 10 percent of stock and 16 percent of voting rights in Uber.