Uber President, Jeff Jones, has left the car-hailing company. He spent only six months before leaving in the face of unsurmountable, internal crises. Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick has confirmed Jones depature, and the other has also issued a statement confirming his departure from the city transport company.
Kalanick hired Jones in 2016 after both met at an event in Vancouver. Jones was then the CMO at retailer Target. His coming into Uber removed first Uber CEO Ryan Graves as board member. Jones roles indicated he would head Uber's day-to-day operations, marketing and customer support globally.
The Need to Hire A COO Among Other Things Sent Jones Packing
Kalanick's announcement of the need to hire a COO seemed to send Jones packing. According to an email sent to employees, Kalanick said "after we announced our intention to hire a COO, Jeff came to the tough decision that he doesn't see his future at Uber." He added that he regretted making the ad in the papers; raising concerns that he may never have discussed the hire with Jones before the announcement was made in the press, Recode reports.
Analysts say a new COO would possibly outrank Jones, while he had thought he would remain the second-in-command to Kalanick in Uber. Kalanick however admitted that Jones impact on the company would set the course to be followed for several months to come. He thanked the departing company president, and then announced a reshuffle in the organization's top hierarchy.
Jones Caught Up In A Web of Scandals and Poor Company Culture
Jones in a brief statement said he left because it was apparent his career tenets and experience were inconsistent with what he saw in Uber. He said the company's "beliefs and approach to leadership" were not measurable with his own and so had to leave. He thanked everyone and wished the company well in its ride-sharing business.
Meanwhile, the company had been embroiled in a number of scandals and upheavals before Jones joined. They never seemed to abate at his coming and they seemed to increase and even overwhelm him, with many even blaming him for a number of troubles. A former female engineer had accused the top executives of sexual harassment and gender bias and over 200,000 customers deleted the company in a single weekend, Pulse.ng reported. Several other top executives had also left Uber before and after Jones joined the company over one reason or the other.
