Travis Kalanick is making headlines once more but not for the usual controversies he and Uber have been involved with. This time, the Uber CEO no longer holds that title after surprisingly resigning from his post earlier.
Kalanick was on a leave to deal with the death of his mother when he got the news that Uber shareholders wanted him out as CEO of the company. The New York Times learned that Kalanick stepped down on Tuesday after five major investors of Uber demanded that the embattled Kalanick resign immediately.
Despite losing the CEO tag, Kalanick will still remain on the board. He and co-founder Garrett Camp still have control of Uber. This means Kalanick will have a voice, a strong one, as to who will succeed him as Uber CEO. Recode pointed out that the next Uber CEO should be someone from the outside. The company's recent controversies caused a number of resignations among the executive level thus the choices from within have been thinned. Fortunately, the ride-sharing company is not short of potential candidates.
Thomas Staggs was the COO of Disney until last year when he suddenly stepped down. Staggs was with the company since 1990 but despite being the next logical candidate to replace Robert Iger after the latter retires in 2018, some shareholders felt he was not right for the job. This may be one reason for Staggs' sudden decision to leave.
Susan Wojcicki worked for Google before becoming CEO of YouTube since 2014. Wojcicki was previously considered for the role of the No. 2 executive at Uber.
Alan Mulally has been retired since 2014 but the former Ford CEO come out of retirement if given the right opportunity. Mulally seems to have an affinity for turning troubled companies around and Uber fit the bill perfectly.
Dave Clark is currently the chief of global operations and customer service at Amazon. His vast experience with the retail company will do Uber well.
John Donahue is currently with ServiceNow but he made a name for himself as CEO of eBay. He was head of marketing for three years before becoming eBay CEO.
With Kalanick no longer the top dog at Uber, people are already talking as to who deserves to be named the next Uber CEO. The list is definitely not limited to the names mentioned above as the likes of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and former Ford CEO Mark Fields have been floated around. No matter who gets chosen as the next CEO of Uber, he or she will have a tough time ahead as the company reels from the numerous controversies it has faced in recent years.
