Uber senior vice president and business leader Emil Michael, who had reportedly been pressured to resign, has left the company, according to an email obtained by The New York Times and confirmed by NBC News.
Michael will be replaced by David Richter, but his departure is part of a growing senior level exodus at the company. Since February, Uber has lost its president and marketing chief (Jeff Jones), finance chief (Guatam Gupta) and senior VP of engineering (Amit Singhal). The company is also without a chief operating officer. If Travis Kalanick takes a leave of absence, which is being considered, the company will essentially need an entire new senior leadership team.
Here's the full email, obtained by the Times: Team –
Uber was not immediately available to comment on the report.
At a public dinner in 2014, Michael talked about hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on journalists investigating the company.
Michael was also reportedly part of a small team of execs that visited a karaoke-escort bar in South Korea, which drew an HR complaint from a female exec in attendance. Kalanick's ex-girlfriend, Gabi Holzwarth, told The Information that Michael called her earlier this year to try and dissuade her from talking to the press about the escort bar incident, where she was present.
The revelations around Michael have resurfaced amid an internal investigation into claims of sexual harassment and gender bias within the company. Results of that investigation are expected to be revealed Tuesday.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will likely take a leave of absence amid the release of an internal investigation, Reuters reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.
No decision has been made, according to Reuters. Outlets such as The New York Times and Recode previously reported that a leave of absence for Kalanick might be considered by Uber's board, but did not reveal which way the company was leaning.
CNBC has also confirmed that former Nestle CFO Wan Ling Martello will join Uber's board. She was previously CFO for Wal-Mart's international unit, and also sits on Alibaba's board.
— CNBC's Deirdre Bosa, Mike Calia and NBC News contributed to this report.
