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Employees questioned Kalanick’s discussions with Trump

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 248) describes Travis Kalanick’s 2016 efforts to ingratiate himself with then-President-elect Donald Trump, seeking a photo opportunity and “a direct line to Trump.”  But employees protested. Isaac continues:

His employees disagreed. Grumbles traveled the hallways of 1455 Market Street, as many Uber employees wondered why their boss needed to embrace a man they considered xenophobic, ignorant, and racist. At internal all-hands meetings, they urged their boss to reconsider and step away from the council.

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Thailand manager assaulted employee and pushed her face into drugs

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 240) describes a toxic workplace at Uber in Thailand, including drug use and visits from sex workers.  He continues:

One particularly raucous evening, a bunch of Uber Thailand employees were up late drinking and snorting coke, a semiregular occurrence at that office. One female Uber employee with the group had decided she didn’t want to do drugs with her colleagues, and tried to abstain. Before she could leave, her manager grabbed the woman and shook her, bruising her. Then he grabbed the back of her head and shoved her face-first into the pile of cocaine on the table, forcing her to snort the drugs in front of them.

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Uber employee feared rape, and manager offered company health care, not help

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 240) describes an experience of a female employee in Malaysia who noticed men following her from work, leading her to fear she would be raped.  She texted multiple people seeking help, including her manager, the local Uber general manager.  Rather than rush to the scene or call the police, the manager texted: “Don’t worry, Uber has great health care. We will pay for your medical bills.”

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Disdain for drivers

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 234) describes Uber leaders’ disdain for drivers.  As managers examined comments from drivers, “one manager expressed disgust with the spelling and grammatical errors the drivers included in their responses. ‘God, I can’t believe these people’s votes count the same as ours,” he quipped to his subordinates.”

Isaac also points out the high churn of drivers — how quickly drivers stop driving and don’t return.  As of early 2016, roughly a quarter of Uber’s drivers churned every three months — requiring the company to constantly seek other drivers.

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Tracked riders after rides ended

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 232) reports that at Travis Kalanick’s instruction, Uber began to track riders even after they had ended their rides.  Isaac describes no proper purpose for this tracking, but says Kalanick “wanted to gain insight into … where people went after getting dropped off.”

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Ill will towards Lyft

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 231) reports Travis Kalanick’s hostility towards competitor Lyft.  He reports:

Kalanick took pleasure in hurting [Lyft leaders] Green and Zimmer, and showed them no mercy.

Isaac continues (p. 230): “He wanted to professionally humiliate [Zimmer].”

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Otto was a sham to transfer employees and know-how from Google

Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 228) indicates that the transition of Anthony Levandowski and other colleagues at Google’s self-driving program, from Google to Otto, was a sham designed to streamline their transition to Uber.  He explains that Levandowski created Otto “as if he were interested in pursuing his own trucking startup” (emphasis added).  Otto’s discussion with venture capitalists were, Isaac says, “mostly for appearance’s sake.”  Uber’s acquisition of Otto was, Isaac says, effectively preordained.

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