The latest revelations about behaviour at Uber are the most shocking in a long series. A senior executive obtained the medical records of a woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India, it is reported. He was apparently motivated to invade her privacy because Uber executives had somehow convinced themselves that the rape case – for which the driver was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment – was related to a conspiracy by Ola, the company’s big rival in India, to damage the US firm. There is no evidence to support the theory that Ola was somehow involved.
If common sense, not to mention common decency, seems entirely absent at Uber, so does any vague understanding of good corporate governance. The executive in question – Eric Alexander, president of Uber Asia Pacific – was dismissed this week only after journalists from the Recode website made inquiries. According to the New York Times’ sources, Alexander had shared and discussed the woman’s medical records with Travis Kalanick, Uber’s founder and chief executive, and senior vice-president Emil Michael.
If this incident was isolated, it would still be inexcusable. But complaints about misconduct at Uber have come so thick and fast that the company was obliged to order two independent inquiries. The first report on sexual harassment, conducted by law firm Perkins Coie, led to 20 employees being dismissed. The findings of a second inquiry on Uber’s wider culture, led by former US attorney general Eric Holder, are due to be announced next week.
Through all the scandals, including allegations that Uber used secret software to fool law enforcement officers, supposedly independent directors such as Arianna Huffington, the most visible, have stood by Kalanick. That was true even when he admitted he needed “leadership help” after being filmed ranting at one of Uber’s drivers.
Uber is privately owned and Kalanick seems to have vice-like control of the shares. But, in any well-run public company, he would have been shown the door. If Uber intends to launch a public offering and join a US stock market, it will surely require an entirely new board.
