Uber names new CEO

Ride-hailing app Uber has named American travel company Expedia's Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO after its founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick resigned in June, the media reported.

The announcement was made on Sunday night, reports CNN.

According to Uber sources, Iranian-origin Khosrowshahi was not among those reported to have been in the running. The short list included Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric (GE) and Meg Whitman, the head of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

However, Whitman said in June that she would not move to Uber and Immelt pulled out of the race earlier on Sunday because of problems with the San Francisco-based company's board, the sources said.

Khosrowshahi took the helm of Expedia when it spun out of InterActiveCorp's (IAC) IAC Travel division in 2005. He previously served as IAC Travel's CEO, as well as IAC's chief financial officer.

Uber has been without a chief financial officer since 2015, and the company's head of finance left the company at the end of May.

Expedia was one of the first tech companies to challenge President Trump's travel ban in court, citing the potential harm to its employees and customers.

As Uber's new CEO, Khosrowshahi will face a big job, including repairing the company's internal culture, navigating legal battles, and reducing its financial losses, CNN quoted the company sources as saying.

Last week, Uber said its sales reached $1.75 billion in the second quarter, up 17 per cent from the previous quarter.

The problems for Kalanick started earlier this year after a former Uber engineer alleged sexual harassment at the company, reports The New York Times.

Susan Fowler, a former site reliability engineer, levelled numerous allegations of sexism against her former superiors in a lengthy blog post. Her blog was widely shared online and prompted the company to launch an internal investigation.

This led to further allegations from other employees, prompting the company to conduct internal investigations.

Uber has already fired 20 employees -- including some in senior positions -- after evaluating more than 200 claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and unprofessional conduct.

--IANS

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