Uber investor Shervin Pishevar read his florid letter to Uber on camera for CNBC’s Jon Fortt.
On Wednesday morning, Uber investor Shervin Pishevar published a letter ahead of a hearing in the lawsuit fellow Uber investors Benchmark filed against former CEO Travis Kalanick. Pishevar is on Kalanick’s side.
That hearing is already done, and the judge sent the case to arbitration, as Kalanick had pressed for.
But the letter itself is still getting some attention on social media for its florid language, including passages like, “We write with the souls of thousands of lives saved, the lives of millions of jobs created liberating multitudes of drivers from the shackles of servitude to iniquitous taxi cartels of corrupt cabals that choked cities with their pollution of air and morals.”
CNBC’s Jon Fortt interviewed Pishevar on Wednesday for his Fortt Knox series, and got the investor to read the letter in his own voice.
To recap, quickly: Benchmark sued Kalanick to try and get him to step down from Uber’s board, claiming that he misled the firm about what was happening at the company and illegally created three new board seats. Kalanick argued the case was bogus and should be sent to arbitration, and Pishevar intervened on Kalanick’s side.
Meanwhile, Uber’s board on Sunday overcame its divisions to name former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to the CEO spot vacated by Kalanick. Khosrowshahi spoke to Uber employees on Wednesday afternoon, and starts work next Tuesday.
Here’s Pishevar’s appearance on CBNC from earlier in the day, where he called Khosrowshahi a perfect choice for Uber’s CEO:
