Travis Kalanick, the longtime chief executive office of Uber, is taking an indefinite leave of absence, according to an email he sent to Uber employees on Tuesday. A committee of the ride-hailing company’s upper management will run Uber in Kalanick’s stead, Bloomberg reports. Upon his return date, which has not been specified, Kalanick will share some of his former duties with a yet-to-be-hired chief operating officer.
Kalanick’s leave comes after the release of the results of a probe conducted by former Attorney General Eric Holder. Uber hired Holder to investigate scandals including sexual harassment allegations from several former employees and a tool designed to evade law enforcement and regulators that is now the subject of a Department of Justice investigation. Holder also investigated the company’s workplace culture, which some say played a generative role in many of the scandals.
Though Kalanick suffered a personal tragedy last week, he characterized his temporary departure as ultimately to Uber’s benefit, as much as his own.
“For Uber 2.0 to succeed, there is nothing more important than dedicating my time to building out the leadership team,” Kalanick wrote. “But if we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve.”
Several other changes were announced following the release of the Holder report. On Sunday, Uber’s head of business, Emil Michael, left the company, as recommended by Holder’s report. It remains unclear if Michael quit or was fired, according to the New York Times. Uber’s conference room, known formerly as the “War Room,” will be renamed the “Peace Room.”
