LEAKED AUDIO: Uber's all-hands meeting had some uncomfortable moments
UPDATE: David Bonderman is resigning from Uber’s board effective Wednesday as a result of the ‘inappropriate’ comment he made to director Arianna Huffington. More below.*
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Uber held an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, during which the board announced that CEO Travis Kalanick would take a leave of absence. Furthermore, management shared recommendations from the law firm Covington & Burling on how the embattled ride-hailing startup can fix its culture after complaints of sexual harassment.
Yahoo Finance exclusively obtained audio of the meeting, which had some uncomfortable moments.
“Let us all address the elephant in the room — where is Travis?” Uber board member Arianna Huffington said. “On Sunday during our board meeting in Los Angeles, Travis told the board that he would like to take some time off, that the confluence of recent events, the death of his mother, whom he buried on Friday, and all that the company has been going through in the last few months, meant for him that he wanted to take a step back from the day-to-day management of the company.”
Uber’s board voted unanimously to adopt all the recommendations in Covington & Burling’s report, which included reallocating some of Kalanick’s responsibilities, enhancing board oversight, improving the human resources and complaint process, and increasing Uber’s diversity efforts by regularly publishing diversity statistics and using blind resume reviews, for instance.
A ‘disrespectful’ comment
While speaking, Huffington pointed out that Uber was adding a woman to its board, Wan Ling Martello.
“There’s a lot of data that shows when there’s one woman on the board, it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board,” she said around six minutes into the recording.
“Actually what it shows is it’s much likely to be more talking,” Uber board member David Bonderman said.
“Oh. Come on, David,” Huffington responded.
This comment was met with outrage on social media. According to New York Times reporter Mike Isaac, the room was “aghast.”
NBC News correspondent Jo Ling Kent later reported that Bonderman apologized in an email, saying that the comment was “disrespectful” and “inappropriate.”
Later on during the meeting, Uber’s chief HR officer, Liane Hornsey, told everybody to “stand up and give each other a hug.”
From War to Peace
Huffington also announced a symbolic change, which earned tepid applause: changing a room in the office named the “War Room” to the “Peace Room.”
The company also said it would no longer encourage employees to work longer and always be “on.”