Uber Gets a New Boss

Beleaguered ride-sharing unicorn Uber has not made it official yet， but the company reportedly has named Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to take up the reins as Ubers next chief executive officer. Former General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt was an early favorite， but he officially withdrew.

Most of us know the story of what Salons Elias Isquith calls “Wall Streets favourite disrupter”. Uber， the ride-hailing service run primarily through smart phones， is a global economic success story.

In 2008， it was but an idea held by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp. Today it is a profit-making “unicorn”. It was recently valued at US$62.5 billion.

How Uber came to be worth such significant sums is a question often posed. Integral to its success was its speedy efforts at connecting riders with drivers through smart phones. This saw Uber become an on-demand disruptor business. In the process， it has alluringly branded itself as a service “for the good of all” that puts “people first”.

Uber seemingly takes from overpriced taxis， facilitates livelihoods for its drivers， gives to the needy rider and sticks it to urban regulators – or so the story goes.

Much closer to the truth may be that when Uber isnt wrapping itself in cloaks of communal good， it is busy trying to institute a monopoly on ridehailing. It actively encloses what could be a more open city in which riders and drivers work to benefit city residents.

Who is Khosrowshahi

Khosrowshahi was the “truce”choice， according to Recode， acceptable to both sides in the boards dysfunctional selection process.

The Expedia CEO was the third person that Ubers board was considering in what has been a contentious process. Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman and General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt were the other two， but both have taken their names out of the ring -- likely because they could not garner enough support -- via tweets. Ubers eight-person board reportedly voted to hire Khosrowshahi after three days of meetings.

Recode suggests that Khosrowsha-hi was the “truce” choice for the company as former CEO Travis Kalanick was backing Immelt and major investor Benchmark was backing Whitman. Benchmark is currently suing Kalanick in attempt to relieve him of his board seat as well， alleging he committed fraud， breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Khosrowshahi has been president and CEO of travel site Expedia， based in Bellevue， Wash.， since 2005. The publicly traded company plays in a similar world to Uber coordinating travel online， but has a market capitalization of around $23 billion compared to Ubers private valuation of $70 billion.

Khosrowshahi， an immigrant to the US from Iran， has been outspoken against President Trumps immigration polices on Twitter. Hes also no stranger to M&A， acquiring several companies while leading Expedia， and shares a common enemy with Uber -- Google --which Expedia filed a complaint against for using its search engine to benefit its own business over its competitors.

Mr Khosrowshahi was born in Iran but moved to America as a child. He is a US citizen and attended the prestigious Brown University， a private Ivy League research university in Providence， Rhode Island， which was founded in 1764， making it the seventh oldest college in the US. He read electrical engineering.

Prior to running Expedia， Mr Khosrowshahi was the chief financial officer at IAC， an internet and media conglomerate listed on Nasdaq. The company owned and ran various consumer-facing online businesses， including video-sharing website Vimeo， The Daily Beast， Investopedia and Match Groups brands including Match and Tinder. It was IAC that bought Expedia in 2003 and then rebooted it in 2005 with Mr Khosrowshahi atop the firm.

Mr Khosrowshahi has spoken about his belief in the long-term and a willingness to shrink margins in the short term if this will help propel his companys growth in years to come. He has also made moves at Expedia to em-brace new trends and take on competitors head-on. Two years ago Expedia bought Home-Away， a business similar to Airbnb， which allows home-owners to rent out their properties via a website. Bookings were up 50pc at HomeAway in its first quarter suggesting the purchase was a shrewd one.

What is Expedia

The soon-to-be-announced new CEO has been the chief executive at Expedia since 2005， and he has grown that company into an international travel giant. An Iranian American， Khosrowshahi also has been an outspoken critic of President Trumps travel ban on Muslim Americans.

Under Khosrowshahi， Expedia acquired established consumer brands like Travelocity and Orbitz， and even took on Airbnb with the acquisition of home rental site HomeAway.

Expedia is Americas biggest online travel agency but its fair to say the profile of its boss Dara Khosrowshahi isnt equivalent in scale.

The 48-year-old Iranian might have run Expedia for 12 years but hes relatively unknown outside the US tech scene. This is mainly because Mr Khosrowshahi is based in Washington state and so is part of Seattles tech cohort， which is less well known internationally than Californias Silicon Valley.

But this is probably about to change if Mr Khosrowshahi takes the job atop ride-hailing app Uber. Until recently， its chief executive was the companys founder Travis Kalanick， who resigned in June after allegations emerged of endemic sexual harassment at the company， which led to a major internal investigation with more than a dozen senior executives departing.

Mr Khosrowshahi has been somewhat less controversial， quietly growing Expedias revenues from $2.1bn（￡1.6bn） in 2005 to $8.7bn in 2016. The company owns sites such as Hotels. com， Trivago and Travelocity making it a major go-to for Americans and others around the world when they look to book their getaways.

Uber Should Go Public

The new boss of Uber has told staff that the company should go public in the next 18 to 36 months.

Dara Khosrowshahi， the incoming chief executive， was addressing staff for the first time since his appointment at the companys headquarters in San Francisco.

In a farewell memo to colleagues at Expedia he also admitted： “I have to tell you I am scared. Ive been here at Expedia for so long that Ive forgotten what life is like outside this place . . . but . . . you have to move out of your comfort zone.”

Mr Khosrowshahi will have to deal with the changing dynamics in Ubers industry， including how its workers are employed and driverless cars.

Transport for London （TfL） is allowing the taxi service Uber to operate“outside of the law”， Steve McNamara from the Licensed Taxi Drivers Asso- ciation has said.

His comments come as taxi drivers gear up to protest against Ubers use of a mobile app to work out the cost of rides.

They argue this is tantamount to a taxi meter， which only black cabs are legally entitled to use in London.

But Jo Bertram， UK and Ireland general manager at Uber， argued that TfL should be allowed to create their own definition of what constitutes a taxi meter.

Khosrowshahi will earn his salary at Uber， whatever it is. In addition to the dust-up between Kalanick and Benchmark， theres plummeting morale， a corporate culture that has spawned multiple reports of discrimination and sexual harassment， and competitive challenges on several fronts.

He faces a major challenge from ride-sharing firm Lyft and other non-U. S.-based firms like Chinas Didi Chuxing. Apple Inc. invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing last year. The Chinese firm has attracted about $15.75 billion in venture funding， according to Crunchbase.