Uber weighs leave of absence for CEO

Ride-hailing service Uber has moved to shake up the company's leadership, a moved followed by accusations that company executives turned a blind eye to sexual harassment and other corporate misbehaviour, the media reported.

On Sunday, Uber directors weighed on a three-month leave of absence for Travis Kalanick, the 40-year-old CEO who founded the start-up and have turned it into a nearly $70 billion entity, reports The News York Times.

In addition, a representative for Uber's board said the directors "unanimously voted" to adopt all of the recommendations made in a report by the former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr., who was retained to investigate the company's culture.

According to sources, the moves would scale back the involvement of Kalanick and strip him of an ally.

The changes would also further destabilise the leadership at Uber, which has upended the transportation industry worldwide.

Kalanick proposed the idea of taking time off after a boating accident last month that killed his mother and sent his father to the hospital.

The discussions by the nine-member board preceded a report from Holder's investigation, scheduled to be released on Tuesday, the New York Times reported.

Uber has fired more than 20 employees for infractions including sexual harassment and discrimination.

Uber has sincefaced other problems, including an intellectual property dispute over self-driving car technology with Waymo, the self-driving car business that operates under Google's parent company.

The company is also dealing with a Justice Department investigations into tools that it used to evade law enforcement personnel in cities where the authorities were trying to shut down its ride-hailing service.

--IANS

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