Uber's divided board managed to agree on one thing over the weekend: Expedia's Dara Khosrowshahi should be the company's new CEO. An official announcement is expected soon.
As of now, there are no signs that a bitter lawsuit pitting two of
Uber's largest shareholders --
both of them board members -- against
each other, is nearing resolution. And that is odd, since it seems
unlikely that Khosrowshahi, who is said to be ready to accept the job, would want to jump into the middle of a war for control of the company.
Yet on Monday, the dispute between Uber's former CEO Travis Kalanick
and venture capital firm Benchmark showed no signs of abating. In a new
court filing, Kalanick accused Benchmark of drawing out its lawsuit only
to "publicly slander" his character.
"Benchmark desires to publicly attack Mr. Kalanick, and to peddle its
allegations to the media, but that conduct is directly contrary to the
interest of Uber, as announced by its Board of Directors," the court
filing said.
On August 10, Benchmark sued Kalanick for fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and breaches of contractual obligations.
As part of the suit, Benchmark wants the court to nullify a June 2016
agreement that created three additional board seats. It also wants the
former CEO to be removed from the board and banned from participating in
the search for his replacement.
While the two sides are still fighting over whether or not the case
should be sent to arbitration, Benchmark's argument that Kalanick is
interfering in the CEO search is now a mute point.
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