Sri's Notes.docx

expensive mandatory

car upgrades

dropped the prices for its black car service, though based on previous reporting, the per-mile rate has stayed at around the same price.

But Chowdhury says doing UberX trips in his big SUV is even worse. In New York, UberX rides cost $1.75 per mile, compared to $3.75 for Uber Black, meaning his gross earnings for a Black ride are more than twice as much per mile. Chowdhury says when you’re burning fuel at the rate his SUV does (less than 15 miles per gallon in the city, according to the U.S. Department of Energy), the UberX fare simply isn’t worth it. “A regular car is V4. This is an eight-cylinder car,” he says. dropped the prices for its black car service, though based on previous reporting, the per-mile rate has stayed at around the same price. But it’s certainly true that given the low price of the company’s mainstream service, UberX, and its carpool option, UberPool, there is less demand for its UberBlack service.

https://www.recode.net/2017/2/28/14766964/video-uber-travis-kalanickdriver-argument After years of negative revelations—spying on passengers, dubious driverless-c ar experiments in San Francisco, the CEO’s bragging about sexual conquests, to name just a few—the public was already inclined to believe the worst of Uber. Further stoking the flames was Kalanick’s decision to join Trump’s business advisory council. Kalanick argued that his participation in the council wasn’t an endorsement of the president; he just wanted a seat at the table, along with Elon Musk, International Business Machines Corp.’s Ginni Rometty, and Walt Disney Co.’s Bob Iger. Susan Fowler penned a blog post, “Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber,” about the sexual harassment she had witnessed in her time at the company. The explosive response to that post prompted Kalanick to hire Eric Holder Jr., the former U.S. attorney general and a partner at the firm Covington & Burling LLP, to lead an investigation into Fowler’s claims. “We will leave no stones unturned,” In meetings, he would alternately impress and alienate employees, investors, and his board. Over time, he turned a lot of friends into enemies with stories to tell. Jones, the president who had commissioned the public survey, resigned in March after only six months on the job, citing differences over “beliefs and approach to leadership.” In exit interviews with Uber board members, he was more specific, excoriating Kalanick’s shotgun management style and unwillingness to listen. Then, after Google filed its lawsuit, Levandowski told the court he was likely to invoke the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination. He would no longer help defend Uber, further imperiling the company’s case. Uber’s top lawyer, Yoo, who was traveling, videoconferenced into a meeting with Kalanick and demanded Uber either put Levandowski on leave or dismiss him. Yoo’s deputy, Angela Padilla, who oversaw the case, agreed. Kalanick insisted that the company stick by Levandowski—that Kalanick’s “brother from another mother,” as he once described Levandowski, would eventually be vindicated.

In late March, the tech publication the Information published an account of a visit by Kalanick and other Uber executives to a karaoke bar in Seoul in 2014. Kalanick’s then-girlfriend Gabi Holzwarth, who went along on the work trip, told the Information that the bar was staffed by “escorts,” each woman labeled with a number so customers could pick them out more easily. (Holzwarth said she and Kalanick left the bar together after about an hour.)

In June, Bloomberg News and the tech blog Recode reported that Eric Alexander, Uber’s president for AsiaPacific, had obtained and carried around the confidential medical record from a horrific December 2014 rape of a 26-year-old passenger by an Uber driver in Delhi. Alexander, Kalanick, and other executives had discussed among themselves a preposterous theory—that the rape may have been a setup by Ola, Uber’s primary rival in India. Through a spokesperson, Alexander declined to comment. They implored the board to fire Emil Michael, Alexander’s boss at the time as well as Kalanick’s closest deputy, and demanded the board force Kalanick to take at least a three-month leave of absence.