Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigns after months of crisis

Travis Kalanick. [Photo: jfdaily.com]

Travis Kalanick has resigned as the chief executive of Uber a week after he announced that he was going on an indefinite leave of absence from the tech firm.

The move last week failed to defuse a growing crisis over Kalanick's leadership and demands from investors for him to resign.

Uber has been hit by a series of public relations crises and an exodus of top executives in recent months.

The startup brought in former US Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate allegations that its managers didn't address reports of sexual harassment.

Recommendations from the investigation, announced last week, included re-evaluating Kalanick's responsibilities at the company and boosting the independence of the board.

Kalanick's departure deepens the leadership crisis at Uber, which has 14,000 employees and more than 1 million drivers.

The company was already lacking top executives for operations, finance, marketing and business.

Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009 and built it into the world's most valuable startup by steamrollering competitors and ignoring regulations. The company has tangled with local and national governments, labor unions and even its own drivers.

Yet its model has spread around the globe, shaking up transportation industries across Asia, Europe and Latin America.

The image Kalanick gained of an aggressive leader seeking to grow his company at any cost became an increasing burden as Uber's difficulties mounted.

"It's not good for Uber, it's not good for me, it's not good for the people that I'm talking to. It's bad for everybody," he said of his negative public image in July 2016, according to a book about Uber that came out last month.

In February of this year, he admitted he needed to "grow up" after a video emerged of him arguing with an Uber driver.