Travis Kalanick seems intent on bringing Uber down rather than seeing it succeed. Kalanick added two new board members Thursday. albeit excellent executives, in a power play that will disrupt negotiations with SoftBank and other investors. It will certainly lead to a showdown with new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. More drama will lead to more executive defections and confusion among investors, partners, and customers. A remarkable startup appears poised to flame out spectacularly.
…Travis Kalanick, Uber’s former chief executive and a board member, had appointed two new directors — Ursula Burns, the former C.E.O. of Xerox, and John Thain, the former chief of Merrill Lynch — to the privately held company without informing them. The moves, which pushed the eight-member board to 10 people, gave Mr. Kalanick new potential allies on major decisions at Uber.
Source: Inside the New Proposal That Exacerbated Uber’s Board Divisions – The New York Times