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Uber president resigns after 6 months, says work culture clashed with his convictions

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X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Amid-turbulence-at-Uber-company-s-president-11013195.php

Uber President Jeff Jones said Sunday that he has quit the San Francisco ride-hailing company, saying the culture at the hard-charging and often polarizing start-up clashed with his professional convictions.

Jones’ resignation, which comes after six months on the job, marks the latest blow in what’s been a turbulent few months for the popular ride-services app. Several high-level executives have resigned and the company is reeling from allegations of sexual harassment.

“The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber and I could no longer continue as president of the ridesharing business,” Jones said in a statement to The Chronicle.

Uber Technologies Inc. spokeswoman Sophie Schmidt confirmed Jones’ departure on Sunday, saying that the company wanted to “thank Jeff for this six months at the company and wish him all the best.” Schmidt declined to discuss the issue further.

Jones was responsible for Uber’s operations, marketing and customer support worldwide. He came to Uber last August from Target, where he worked as the retailer’s chief marketing officer. His move to Uber was widely seen as a way for the company to soften its image as a brash, aggressive company.
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Several high-level personnel changes have taken place at the company recently.

Last month, Amit Singhal, Uber’s former senior vice president of engineering, resigned from the company after reports emerged that he failed to disclose a sexual harassment allegation made against him while he was employed at Google. Singhal has denied those allegations.

This month also saw the departure of Ed Baker, Uber’s former vice president of product and growth, who left the company after three years, reportedly citing his desire to work in the public sector.

Just days before that, Susan Fowler, a former Uber engineer, penned an explosive public post online that chronicled what she described as a deeply embedded culture of sexism and sexual harassment at the company that was allowed to persist because of dysfunctional leadership.
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D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
I go to San Francisco every couple of months for work, and it was really weird going last week, because everyone I work with seemed to have suddenly switched over to using Lyft. For the last few years, it was all Uber all the time, but overnight it seemed like the dozen or so people I encountered during my trip had deleted the app in favor of its competitor.

I had of course done the same due to recent events, but I was surprised to see the sudden and sharp decline of Uber at least anecdotally.
 
A

Alavard

Member
That statement really reads to me 'This place is so toxic I can't fix it and won't be a part of it'.

Not a good look for Uber, but hardly surprising.
 
Z

ZeezbruhTV

Member
*don't pay employees well
*increasing legal issues
*bleeding cash
*every car company on earth with autonomous/mobility plans
???
Bankruptcy.
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Lol.

It's gotten to a point where HR recruiters actually actively trying to avoid recruiting those coming from Uber, its name right now is that toxic.

Still the top used ride-share app tho, most people just don't give a fuck apparently.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Wilsongt said:
How big is that parachute?
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If he quits? Probably not all that big. I'm sure he'll be eating OK, but CA is an at-will state. Very few contract allow for golden parachutes if you QUIT. Fail? Sure. Get fired? Definitely. But quitting? Why would you enable that in a one-sided document?


I still use Uber, but they are almost willfully driving normal people away from them with their internal politics bleeding into their external actions. Absolutely insane. They have a foundation, even with the advent of automation, to be the Apple of car shit, but they insist on using Ayn Rand fever dreams to build their reputation.


I remember once upon a time, they were literally the good guy - compared to the pisspot of corruption that was cab unions and city level graft. The only good thing about this was that the effectively broke the back of Taxi Tammany Hall.
 
SerTapTap

SerTapTap

Member
Uber is the biggest case in what's possibly the tech industry's biggest problem; "culture" being a high priority yet completely toxic at every possible level. They hate each other, they hate their customers, they hate the government, and they do everything they can to fuck over basically everyone they work with in any capacity. That is an incredibly dangerous work environment for like every possible reason.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
I think I said Uber would be gone 5 years from now. Let me go ahead and adjust that down to 4. They might be the biggest name in the industry, but it looks like a ship that's about to sink. They're gonna be the Myspace, getting all the attention for the first years, and then someone is gonna come along with Facebook.
 
S

Seesaw15

Member
Freeza Under The Shower said:
oh the non-humanity!
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wUZnt5p.jpg
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Grizzlyjin said:
I think I said Uber would be gone 5 years from now. Let me go ahead and adjust that down to 4. They might be the biggest name in the industry, but it looks like a ship that's about to sink. They're gonna be the Myspace, getting all the attention for the first years, and then someone is gonna come along with Lyft.
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FTFY
 
Z

ZeezbruhTV

Member
Ogodei said:
They're trying to lead on auto-cars for this reason. Then their model would click.
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Why would Uber be in a better position with self driving cars than the companies that build the actual cars? Even if you dismiss that, I'm betting Waymo (google) and Tesla beat them.
 
R

Roland_Gunner

Member
TwitchZeezbruh said:
Why would Uber be in a better position with self driving cars than the companies that build the actual cars? Even if you dismiss that, I'm betting Waymo (google) and Tesla beat them.
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Its would take Tesla decades to scale up to compete with the large autos in the mass market. My guess is Google turns waymo into android for self driving cars and licenses it out to everyone.
 
Z

ZeezbruhTV

Member
Roland_Gunner said:
Its would take Tesla decades to scale up to compete with the large autos in the mass market. My guess is Google turns waymo into android for self driving cars and licenses it out to everyone.
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Completely disagree with the Telsa timeline, If google does that it still leaves Uber boned.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Jones was responsible for Uber’s operations, marketing and customer support worldwide. He came to Uber last August from Target, where he worked as the retailer’s chief marketing officer. His move to Uber was widely seen as a way for the company to soften its image as a brash, aggressive company.
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That doesn't surprise me. Everyone I know who works at Target corporate says the work culture is pretty great. To go from that to the sharkiest of silicone valley shark tanks would be a difficult adjustment.
 
C

CrunchyB

Member
My guess is that it's not so much about the culture but more about the overall trajectory of the company, which is down.
 
A

Armaros

Member
elrechazado said:
That's the CEO. Given what's in the OP, this guy's clearly moping out over the CEO and other stuff.
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Yup, he was probably brought in to improve the companies image, 6 months later, he sees nothing that can be done to right the ship and then the looming sword of Damocles that is the Waymo lawsuit.
 
K

Kthulhu

Member
Laughing Banana said:
Lol.

It's gotten to a point where HR recruiters actually actively trying to avoid recruiting those coming from Uber, its name right now is that toxic.

Still the top used ride-share app tho, most people just don't give a fuck apparently.
Click to expand...

Here in Houston, Uber is our only choice for ride sharing. I imagine it's similar in other places.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
Laughing Banana said:
Lol.

It's gotten to a point where HR recruiters actually actively trying to avoid recruiting those coming from Uber, its name right now is that toxic.

Still the top used ride-share app tho, most people just don't give a fuck apparently.
Click to expand...

Why would consumers care? This is an industry that is completely driven by cost/price.
 
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