Uber chooses Expedia's Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO
Uber has, reportedly, chosen Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its new chief executive. The embattled ride-hailing start-up has been struggling without a leader at its helm since its founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick left the top spot, amidst much controversy. However, approaching Khosrowshahi comes as a surprise because his name never came up among candidates being zeroed in for the post. Here's more.
Who is Khosrowshahi?
Khosrowshahi is an Iranian immigrant. He took charge of Expedia when it spun out of InterActiveCorp's (IAC) IAC Travel division in 2005. He had earlier served as IAC Travel's CEO and CFO. Khosrowshahi also serves as a member of NYT board of directors since 2015. As an aside, Expedia was one of the first tech firms to challenge Donald Trump's travel ban in court.
What happened to others?
The names that did come up included Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric (GE) and Meg Whitman, the head of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. However, Whitman refused the spot, saying she wouldn't move to Uber and as per reports, Immelt excused himself from the race due to his problems with the board of Uber.
What lies ahead?
Khosrowshahi will have to perform nothing short of a miracle as Uber's new CEO in order to bolster the firm's internal culture, tackle legal battles and more importantly rein in the firm's financial losses. He will also have to find suitable candidates for the position of CFO, COO, CMO, president, SVP of global operations and others, who have resigned from the company.
