Uber's board of directors on Sunday night chose Expedia
president and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as Uber's next CEO. The decision ended a
three-way race for the position. Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt withdrew his name
from the candidate pool on Sunday, which focused eyes on Hewlett Packard CEO
Meg Whitman as the apparent choice. Along with her technology and leadership
resume, Whitman would have brought good optics to the position, given co-founder
and former CEO Travis Kalanick's tumultuous exit; he was dogged by accusations
of sexual harassment in the workplace and unethical business practices. The New
York Times reported that Uber's board was not able to close on terms with
Whitman, at which point the company extended the offer to Khosrowshahi, whose
candidacy had largely been kept under wraps.
In an Aug. 28 memo to Expedia employees, chairman Barry Diller wrote, "Nothing has been yet finalized, but having extensively discussed this with Dara I believe it is his intention to accept."
Khosrowshahi, who has been at Expedia's helm
since 2005, offers a contrast to Kalanick, who briefly served on President
Donald Trump's business advisory council. Khosrowshahi came to the U.S. as an
Iranian immigrant, a status which he has underscored as an outspoken critic of Trump's
travel ban. Khosrowshahi would bring more than personal change to Uber's corner
office. He has a history as a dealmaker and understands aggressive growth. He
quadrupled Expedia's annual revenue from $2.1 billion in 2005 to $8.7 billion
in 2016 through organic strategies but also major acquisitions, including HomeAway,
Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity and Trivago. Expedia has not announced
succession plans.
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Editor's note: This article was updated to include Expedia chairman Barry Diller's comments.