Ex-Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi has been named Uber’s new chief executive, replacing the recently departed Travis Kalanick.
The former travel company CEO was voted for by the ride hailing firm’s board of directors on Sunday, following daily meetings regarding the position earlier that week.
Khosrowshahi’s first call of duty will be to look at repairing the fractured relationships with investors and the public to help ensure the business remains profitable in the future, following seven years of losses.
The appointment of Khosrowshahi comes two months after the exit of former CEO Travis Kalanick, who was at the centre of a string of scandals and allegations against the ride-hailing company.
Khosrowshahi’s appointment hasn’t been publicly announced by the company yet, with the appointment only confirmed via an internal memo to employees.
There were a number of frontrunners in the race to the top job at Uber, including GE chairman Jeff Immelt. Immelt, however, he ruled himself out of the running, tweeting: “I have decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber. I have immense respect for the company & founders – Travis, Garrett and Ryan.”
Meg Whitman was also another high-profile CEO who was said to be in the running, although the HPE boss ruled herself out in a statement in late July. In a series of tweets, Whitman said:
“We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber’s CEO will not be Meg Whitman.”
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Mr Khosrowshahi has been the chief executive of Expedia since 2005 and was the highest paid chief executive in the US in 2015. The Iranian-American businessman built up Expedia and led numerous other businesses to build up a travel empire including HomeAway Inc, an Airbnb rival, for £3bn.
If and when the appointment of Uber’s next CEO is formerly announced by the company, Khosrowshahi has a hefty job on his hands to turn the company around and rebuild the reputation Uber had established when it was first founded in 2009.
