Ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick threw a huge tantrum and rolled around saying 'I'm a terrible person' after footage emerged of him yelling at one of his own drivers, claims new book that lifts the lid on ride-share's toxic work environment
- Ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick threw a tantrum after footage emerged of him in February 2017 telling at one of his own drivers
- Video was published online soon after Uber's executives had told Kalanick that he was poisoning the company's brand
- The details of Kalanick's huge meltdown are played out in a new book, Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, which details the chaos inside the company
- Kalanick resigned from the company four months after the video emerged
Ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick threw a tantrum and was rolling around on the carpet saying 'I'm a terrible person' after footage emerged of him two years ago yelling at one of his own drivers.
The video, which taken from inside the driver's car in February 2017 and was key to his downfall, was published online soon after Uber's executives had told Kalanick that he was poisoning the company's brand.
The details of Kalanick's huge meltdown, which came just months before he was eventually forced out, are played out in a new book - Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber - written by New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac.
The book details Kalanick's downfall and the chaos at Uber as it battled a number of mounting scandals including allegations of sexism, racism and homophobia.
Scroll down for video
The video, which taken from inside the driver's car in February 2017, was published online soon after Uber's executives had told Travis Kalanick that he was poisoning the company's brand
Around the time the video of Kalanick was published, Uber's leadership team were being given the results of a survey on how people viewed the company.
Kalanick refused to believe the survey results that found while people liked using Uber, they were effectively turned off by the CEO and it was making the brand worse.
As the CEO argued with his executives, the public relations team received a phone call alerting them to the video.
Four executives huddled around a laptop with Kalanick kneeling on the floor below them as they watched the grainy footage of the CEO berating the Uber driver.
Kalanick was caught on camera yelling at driver Fawzi Kamel after getting into an argument at the end of a ride in San Francisco. The driver had accused Kalanick of 'bankrupting' him by lowering the 'prices' of black car rides.
'Bulls**t. You know what? You know what, some people don't like to take responsibility for their own s**t,' Kalanick could be heard shouting.
'They blame everything in their life on somebody else. Good luck,' he added before jumping out of the car.
When Kalanick and his executives finished watching the video, the CEO fell to the floor saying: 'This is bad. This is really bad... What is wrong with me?'
Rachel Whetstone, who was Uber's head of PR at the time, shot down suggestions about hiring outside crisis management help.
She said there was no one better than Uber's in-house communications team - meaning herself and her second-in-charge Jill Hazelbaker - to help pull them out of this.
The details of Kalanick's huge meltdown, which came just months before he was eventually forced out, are played out in a new book - Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber - that details the chaos inside the company
The book written by Mike Isaac details Kalanick's downfall and the chaos at Uber as it battled a number of mounting scandals including allegations of sexism, racism and homophobia
Kalanick apparently lashed out and screamed: 'You two aren't strategic or creative enough to help us get out of this situation'.
The two PR gurus packed up their belongings and walked out of the room, prompting Kalanick to chase them down the hallway begging them not too leave.
'Kalanick soon realized his mistake: He had p***ed off the very people trying to protect him from a press corps that was about to tear him apart,' Isaac writes in his book.
Hazelbaker is said to have confronted Kalanick in front of the other executives by screaming in her CEO's face.
'How dare you!' she yelled. 'I've walked through fire for you and this company! You did this TO YOURSELF!'
Kalanick eventually convinced both PR execs not to quit and several executives went back to Hazelbaker's home later that night to order pizza and continue their discussions about how to deal with the latest crisis.
The CEO repeatedly withered around on the floor repeatedly saying: 'I'm a terrible person. I'm a terrible person'.
Whetstone is said to have responded: 'You aren't a terrible person. But you do do terrible things'.
Kalanick and his two PR execs drafted a statement that night regarding the video that was eventually handed out to the media.
He also sent around an internal memo to employees before it was published on Uber's public blog the following morning.
Kalanick was caught on camera yelling at driver Fawzi Kamel after getting into an argument at the end of a ride in San Francisco. The driver had accused Kalanick of 'bankrupting' him by lowering the 'prices' of black car rides
'By now I'm sure you've seen the video where I treated an Uber driver disrespectfully. To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement. My job as your leader is to lead... and that starts with behaving in a way that makes us all proud. That is not what I did, and it cannot be explained away,' he said in his apology.
'It's clear this video is a reflection of me - and the criticism we've received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up. This is the first time I've been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it. I want to profoundly apologize to Fawzi, as well as the driver and rider community, and to the Uber team.'
Kalanick resigned as CEO four months later. He refused to comment for the new book about his downfall.
The new book details the ever-increasing scandals the company faced, including those involving Kalanick and other executives.
In an interview with New York Magazine promoting the book, Isaac said he later learned that some stakeholders had tried to force Kalanick out by saying they would leak information to him at the NYT.
'I think it's really indicative of the state of the company. It was a knife party, man. Everyone was constantly fearing their execution, and their evisceration in the press, or someone was trying to go after them so they would have to go to someone else,' Isaac said.
'This is how a lot of investigative reporting works: There's a dysfunction and that's when leaks start to occur. It's like Facebook - once the election happened there were leaks like crazy because people were just disturbed about what was going on. But I've never encountered a cast of characters that willing to kill each other.
'It was hard to write because a typical narrative has a hero and a villain. I don't think there's any obvious heroes, or maybe there are too many obvious villains here. That said, I did try to humanize and make Travis less one-dimensional than he's mostly made out to be.'
Comments 0
Share what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
