It’s officially official. News reports have been telling you since Sunday that Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had been offered the CEO role at Uber, but that was based on sources, not any company statements. It also wasn’t entirely clear if he had formally accepted the offer.
Uber didn’t make an announcement until just now. Here is the text of an email from the company’s board to its employees. We’ve also included a separate statement from former CEO Travis Kalanick below the email, where he claims he “couldn’t be happier” for Khosrowshahi.
Team,
We are delighted to announce that Uber’s Board has voted unanimously to appoint Dara Khosrowshahi to be our new CEO.
Dara came to America at nine years old when his family escaped Iran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution. He grew up in Tarrytown, N.Y., trained as an engineer at Brown, and spent many years at IAC serving as Chief Financial Officer and in various operational and strategic roles.
In 2005, he became CEO of Expedia, which he built into one of the world’s leading travel and technology companies, now operating in more than 60 countries. He has four children and not surprisingly loves to travel, one of his favorite trips being to the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia where his wife Sydney said yes to marrying him.
We’re really fortunate to gain a leader with Dara’s experience, talent and vision. The Board and the Executive Leadership Team are confident that Dara is the best person to lead Uber into the future building world-class products, transforming cities, and adding value to the lives of drivers and riders around the world while continuously improving our culture and making Uber the best place to work.
Dara will be joining us tomorrow, August 30, for an All Hands. Add your questions for Dara here, and stay tuned for a calendar invite with more details. He’ll also be meeting with employees around the world in smaller groups over the next few weeks, and spending time with drivers.
Please join us in welcoming Dara on what promises to be an exciting ride!
-Yasir, Garrett, Matt, Ryan, Arianna, Travis, Wan Ling & David
A spokesperson for Kalanick sent us his statement. “I am excited to welcome Dara Khosrowshahi as Uber’s next CEO. With a deep passion for team building, Dara grew Expedia into one of the world’s most successful travel and technology platforms. Casting a vote for the next chief executive of Uber was a big moment for me and I couldn’t be happier to pass the torch to such an inspiring leader.”
The role had been vacant since June when Kalanick resigned after months of negative publicity about its company culture and allegations of law-breaking. Meg Whitman and Jeff Immelt were the other candidates for the job, but both tweeted that they no longer wanted the job. Whitman was said to have re-entered the selection process at the eleventh hour, but the board ultimately went with Khosrowshahi.
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