Travis Kalanick appoints 2 new Uber directors
Travis Kalanick
Uber cofounder  Travis Kalanick  appointed Xerox chairwoman Ursula Burns and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to the company's board of directors on Friday  a surprise move that's almost certain to re-ignite the bitter internal fighting that has destabilized the ride-hailing giant for months.
The appointments come a few months after  Kalanick  resigned under pressure from the CEO job at Uber. And the move signals that the hard-charging entrepreneur  who remains on Uber's board  does not intend to fade away from the company he turned into a $69 billion juggernaut built largely in his image.
Uber is reportedly in negotiations for a massive $10 billion investment deal with Japan's Softbank  and Benchmark Capital  one of Uber's largest investors that helped pushed  Kalanick  out  has sought to structure the deal in a way that ensure the former CEO cannot return to power.
In his statement to Business Insider   Kalanick  drops a strong hint that these appointments are a direct refutation of Benchmark's demands.
"I am appointing these seats now in light of a recent Board proposal to dramatically restructure the Board and significantly alter the company's voting rights  " Kalanick  writes. "It is therefore essential that the full Board be in place for proper deliberation to occur  especially with experienced board members as Ursula and John."
The appointments of Burns and Thain fill two board seats controlled by  Kalanick   which have sat vacant until now.  Kalanick 's control over the two seats has been challenged by one of Uber's largest investors  Benchmark Capital.
 Kalanick 's announcement  late on Friday  that he was filling the two seats appears to be a direct challenge to Benchmark  which has sued  Kalanick  for fraud and is attempting to wrest the board seats from his control.
At the core of the Benchmark lawsuit are two seats on the board that  Kalanick  fully controls â meaning  he  can appoint whoever  he  wants to fill them. Benchmark alleges that  Kalanick  promised to relinquishh those seats to independent directors after he resigned in June  but never followed through.
 Kalanick  already has a rough reputation in the court of public opinion after Uber was rocked with so many scandals under his leadership that investors  led by Benchmark  forced him to resign from the CEO role in June. Those scandals also led to the exodus of many other top Uber execs.
 Kalanick  still owns about 10% of the company  including so-called "super-voting shares" that give  him  about 16% of the voting rights of Uber. Meanwhile  new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been working hard to repair the company's reputation amid all this drama.
I am confident that    with  their  additions and Daraâs appointment  Uber will be well situated to focus on the future and continue to revolutionize how cities move.
Uber cofounder   [TGT] appointed Xerox chairwoman Ursula Burns and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to the company's board of directors on Friday  a surprise move that's almost certain to re-ignite the bitter internal fighting that has destabilized the ride-hailing giant for months.
The appointments come a few months after   [TGT] resigned under pressure from the CEO job at Uber. And the move signals that the hard-charging entrepreneur  who remains on Uber's board  does not intend to fade away from the company he turned into a $69 billion juggernaut built largely in his image.
Uber is reportedly in negotiations for a massive $10 billion investment deal with Japan's Softbank  and Benchmark Capital  one of Uber's largest investors that helped pushed   [TGT] has sought to structure the deal in a way that ensure the former CEO cannot return to power.
In his statement to Business Insider   Kalanick  drops a strong hint that these appointments are a direct refutation of Benchmark's demands.
"I am appointing these seats now in light of a recent Board proposal to dramatically restructure the Board and significantly alter the company's voting rights  "  [TGT] writes. "It is therefore essential that the full Board be in place for proper deliberation to occur  especially with experienced board members as Ursula and John."
The appointments of Burns and Thain fill two board seats controlled by  Kalanick   which have sat vacant until now.   [TGT]  's control over the two seats has been challenged by one of Uber's largest investors  Benchmark Capital.
  [TGT]  's announcement  late on Friday  that he was filling the two seats appears to be a direct challenge to Benchmark  which has sued   [TGT] for fraud and is attempting to wrest the board seats from his control.
At the core of the Benchmark lawsuit are two seats on the board that  Kalanick  fully controls â meaning  he  can appoint whoever  he  wants to fill them. Benchmark alleges that  Kalanick  promised to relinquishh those seats to independent directors after he resigned in June  but never followed through.
 Kalanick  already has a rough reputation in the court of public opinion after Uber was rocked with so many scandals under his leadership that investors  led by Benchmark  forced him to resign from the CEO role in June. Those scandals also led to the exodus of many other top Uber execs.
 Kalanick  still owns about 10% of the company  including so-called "super-voting shares" that give  him  about 16% of the voting rights of Uber. Meanwhile  new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been working hard to repair the company's reputation amid all this drama.
I am confident that    with  their  additions and Daraâs appointment  Uber will be well situated to focus on the future and continue to revolutionize how cities move.