After a long search for the new CEO of ride-hailing firm and the world’s most well-funded startup Uber, the board has finally voted in favour of Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to take up the position, according to a Recode report.
However, Recode reports that while he has been voted to be the next CEO, Dara has not yet been offered the job though most expect him to take it.
Dara was the third candidate after Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt.
Hours before the new CEO was announced, sources told Recode that Immelt withdrew his name from contention once he knew he wouldn’t get the job. This then gave Whitman the upper hand. However, she had several demands like minimal involvement of ousted CEO Travis Kalanick and increased board control.
Dara was then considered the ‘true choice’ for this much-hyed position to lead the controversial startup.
While Benchmark, which is one of the board members that was most against Travis, backed Whitman, Travis was backing Immelt.
After long discussions, an Uber board spokesperson said that the board has voted, and that the announcement of the new CEO will be first made to the employees of Uber.
Dara has been the president and CEO of Expedia since 2005 prior to which he was the CEO of IAC Travel. Additionally, Dara is also on the board of the New York Times Company.
After a series of controversies, including allegations of misogyny, sexual harassment and even a lawsuit, plagued Uber over the last year, Travis Kalanick was asked to resign as the CEO of the company he co-founded and steered earlier in June. The search for his replacement has been on since.
Controversies did not stop even after his resignation.
In August, Benchmark Capital sued Travis for concealing a range of misdeeds from the board and to force him off the board and also wanted to rescind his ability to fill three board seats.
Benchmark owns 13% of Uber and controls 20% of the voting power, as per the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the official announcement appointing Dara as the new CEO of Uber is still awaited.