EmilMichael
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Uber sends apology email to its NYC riders
Uber's list of "issues" seems to grow with each passing day. Even when it tries to turn things around something goes wrong like one of its board members making a sexist remark and ending up leaving his seat. But it's still trying to convince its customers that it's willing to change and has even started emailing riders an apology.
Uber's second-in-command leaves the company
Uber is rumored to be looking at a shakeup of its executive team as part of its attempt at reforming its broken corporate culture, and you might have just seen the first signs of that shakeup today. The ridesharing company has confirmed that senior business VP Emil Michael, second only to Travis Kalanick in terms of power, has left the company. It's not clear whether he was fired or resigned (Uber will only say that he's no longer employed). However, Wall Street Journal had understood that he was planning to quit in direct response to former US Attorney General Eric Holder's recently completed review of Uber's workplace climate.
Uber CEO linked to escort bar visit that resulted in an HR complaint
In case you were counting, it has been more than a month since Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced an investigation into claims of sexual harassment and discrimination within his company. Tonight The Information reports that in 2014, Kalanick senior VP of business Emil Michael and several other employees visited an "escort-karaoke bar." Within minutes of that article being published, another report from Arizona revealed that one of the company's self-driving cars has been involved in an accident. In a story recounted by Gabi Holzwarth, a professional violinist and business development manager who was dating Kalanick at the time, four other men in the group picked out their favorites from a group of numbered women and proceeded downstairs to sing karaoke. Holzwarth and Kalanick left the rest of the group behind after about 45 minutes. A female Uber manager in the group was "visibly unhappy," quickly left and made a report to HR about it a year later.
Uber says it won't track journalists after (allegedly) doing just that
Uber, which keeps lurching from one PR disaster to another, just found itself in hot water again. At a private dinner attended by a Buzzfeed reporter, exec Emil Michael mused that Uber should spend "a million dollars" to dig up dirt on the "personal lives..., families" of reporters. In particular, he keyed in on Pando Daily journalist Sarah Lacy, who wrote about deleting her Uber app after its (very distasteful) tie-up with a French modeling/escort agency. Incredibly, he suggested that since Uber is supposedly safer than taxis, Lacy should be held responsible for any women who are sexually assaulted after deleting their Uber apps.
