Former GE chief was considered front-runner for the job after Travis Kalanick was forced out in June.
Jeff Immelt has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Uber CEO job.
Former GE chief Jeff Immelt has withdrawn his name from consideration to be Uber’s next chief executive.
Uber’s board was expected to vote Sunday on whom should fill the position, which has been vacant for two months. Immelt, who was considered a front-runner for the ride-hailing company’s top job job, announced his decision in a tweet Sunday morning.
I have decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber. I have immense respect for the company & founders — Travis, Garrett and Ryan.
The San Francisco-based startup has been without a chief executive since co-founder Travis Kalanick was forced to resign in June after a slew of scandals, including sexual harassment allegations that to the firing of more than 20 employees. The company is also defending itself against a trade-secret theft lawsuit from Waymo, the self-driving car business run by Alphabet — Google’s parent company.
Problems for Uber started snowballing back in February when former Uber engineer Susan Fowler wrote a blog post titled «Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber.» She wrote about sexual harassment, «a game-of-thrones political war raging within the ranks of upper management, » and gender bias.
Complicating thee hunt for a new CEO are rumors that Kalanick is plotting a return as CEO of Uber — something the company flatly denies.
But if Benchmark wins its suit against Kalanick, he’d be removed from Uber’s board and any chance of his reinstatement as CEO would likely disappear.
Uber didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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