Arianna Huffington: Uber's Kalanick is 'evolving'

SAN FRANCISCO — Embattled Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is the "heart and soul" of the ride-hailing giant and should not step down, Uber board member and Thrive Capital founder Arianna Huffington said Monday.

"You cannot judge people by their worst moments, (Kalanick) is changing, he's evolving," she told CNN, adding that "we would not be where we are without Travis," a reference to how the company took on taxi associations and city lawmakers to push its disruptive tech.

Huffington also is involved in an ongoing investigation into accusations by former engineer Susan Fowler that Uber's environment is a toxic workplace for women.

Former U.S. attorney general and Uber advisor Eric Holder is leading that investigation, which should conclude by the end of April, Huffington said.

Uber's problems are legion at the moment.

Beyond the internal probe into the company's frat-like culture, Uber also is contending with a lawsuit from Google-owned Waymo over alleged theft of proprietary self-driving car sensor technology. The $68-billion tech startup also admitted to creating Greyball, a way to deceive municipal regulators by taking over their Uber app and creating a ghost. Uber said it would stop that practice.

Nonetheless, high-level defections continue to hit the company, the latest being president Jeff Jones. The former Target marketing exec said he was leaving due to leadership issues, while Uber said it was because he was not being considered for the new COO post.

"Everybody loves Jeff," said Huffington, "but Travis is looking for a partner for the next chapter."

Huffington's impassioned 10-minute interview painted Kalanick as a chastened leader who has already begun implementing changes, which include "new systems" that allow the company to stay clear of "brilliant jerks."

The online media magnate, whose Huffington Post sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million, said that fast-scaling company's cultural issues stemmed in part from the fact that "61% of managers were first-time managers."

Among ex-employee Fowler's allegations was that her male boss made a sexual advance on her first day at the office. When she reported his indiscretion to human resources personnel, she was told nothing could be done because her boss was a valued employee.

What's more, she was told that having brought the issue to light would likely result in a negative review.

Asked when she would feel good about advising women to work at Uber, Huffington snapped back: "Right now."

Uber "had some bad apples, it's not a systemic problem," she said.

Huffington ended the interview with a comment about how leaders need rest in order to perform at their best, taking specific aim at President Trump.

"I think the White House needs some help in that respect," she said. "If the president stopped tweeting in the middle of the night and got more sleep, we might be better off."

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