Uber opened up its phone lines to the press Tuesday, but the grand affair of the ride-hailing giant launching their apology tour didn't come without a few bumps in the road.
Facing scandal after scandal and the heat of the press at every turn, Uber held a conference call with a select number of outlets, including Mashable, in what it described as providing an "interim strategy update on various efforts underway."
The call included:
Arianna Huffington, Uber Board member, who will talk about leadership and accountability, including our search for a COO
Liane Hornsey, Chief Human Resources Officer, who will provide an update on our efforts to improve our company culture
Rachel Holt, head of our US & Canada business, who will give an overview of our business performance so far in 2017 and our plans to improve the driver experience."
Rachel Whetstone, SVP of policy and communications, was also on the call and spoke briefly toward the end of the call about CEO Travis Kalanick
Here's the digest of what happened in the 40-minute ordeal:
Technical difficulties: After Uber board member Arianna Huffington was introduced, the line went silent for about 30 seconds. The team declared "technical difficulties" and put the hold music back on. Huffington then start speaking and was cut off by some man who then told the operator they were ready again. Oh, so, perfect. A woman leading the charge about workplace difficulties and sexism cut off by a man.
Leadership, in search for a COO: Uber has been interviewing a bunch of candidates, which Huffington described as "world class leaders who have worked in very complex organization already." Names being thrown around include AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and former Walt Disney COO Thomas Staggs and Turner CEO John Martin, Bloomberg reported. No names were mentioned on the call -- but they did make it very clear female candidates were also being interviewed. The search has been so intense that it's the excuse the participants gave for why Travis Kalanick himself wasn't on the call.
Leadership, should Travis stay as CEO?: Huffington repeatedly defended Kalanick as the right leader for Uber. Following the New York Times question asking if Kalanick would step down, if asked, she responded: "Given that this is a completely hypothetical question, this has not taken place." She later said that she's seen him change "week by week."
Diversity and inclusion at Uber: Liane Hornsey, who was hired only 11 weeks ago, said she is dedicated to making a more "genuine effort that the individual is more important than the team. That everyone can be heard." The company will also release its first diversity report in March, so watch this space.
Overhaul relationship with drivers: Before the #DeleteUber crisis even began, Uber said they were committed to make 2017 their year of the driver. That's has become a bigger priority, Holt said on the call. She gave out several examples, for instance reprioritizing complaints given by riders to drivers based on the number of rides they complete and also showing them their earnings in a more easy-to-read format. Holt described the company's policies as "unintentionally" stacked against drivers.
Why three women on the call, no men?: Well, to some reporters, it was a silly question, but it was asked. We already know Kalanick couldn't join because he was tied up in the COO search. Meanwhile, the a member of the board, the head of HR and one of the longest-serving employees at Uber who runs the business in the U.S. seemed quite apt.
#DeleteUber hasn't destroyed Uber: While the Times revealed that at least 200,000 accounts were deleted in the wake of the Muslim ban, Uber isn't seeing much damage in its business. The company said on the call that it's rate of growth in trips was higher in the first few months of 2017 than the same period last year.
While originally Uber was pretty dismissive to press, issuing (in private conversations with Mashable and other publications) that the #DeleteUber trend became completely misconstrued and overblown, the ride-hailing giant has now apparently begun its sympathy tour.
The PR department cautioned before the call, via an email and a pre-brief phone call, there would be no "big announcements" -- for instance, the hiring of a chief operating officer or the decision of CEO Travis Kalanick to step down. You can read the prepared remarks on Uber's website.
The call seemed similar to the quarterly earnings call that publicly-traded companies hold (like Alphabet, Apple, Facebook and soon-to-come Snap) in that it included a lot of pre-written, flack-driven statements that aren't really that newsworthy or groundbreaking. Huffington said early on in her remarks that she did not expect or desire any headlines to be rewritten following the call. (Oops: ARIANNA HUFFINGTON BLASTS CNN OVER MISLEADING HEADLINE.)
For now, the company is dead-set on cleaning up an image that has been tarnished, by turning off airport surge pricing with questionable motivations (the taxi drivers' union was currently striking) in the wake of the Muslim ban; then actively promoting CEO Travis Kalanick’s decision to join President Trump’s economic council; and finally, with the explosive blog post from former employee Susan Fowler Rigetti on the workplace discrimination she faced.
This is the first of what we can imagine will be a series of calls and efforts by Uber. The company has committed to releasing the results of its investigation into any systemic problem at Uber by the end of the month.
If Kalanick's dedication is true, they are soon expected to hire a COO. Meanwhile, executives continue to flee -- and those roles will probably need to be filled, as well.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated for clarity regarding Uber's airport surge pricing. An earlier version of this story misspelled Rachel Whetstone's name and also incorrectly stated that the call included a statement that the number of rides over the first 10 weeks of 2017 was higher than the same period in 2016. Instead, the speaker on the call referenced the rate of growth in trips that changed. Uber would neither confirm or deny whether the first statement was accurate.
Topics Uber
