Uber is one of the biggest cab service providers of the world. But, Uber’s future has been thrown into doubt. Hundreds of thousands of customers deleted their accounts in protest of Kalanick’s ties to the Trump administration.
Uber is having an absolutely miserable year, from high-profile sexual harassment allegations to an astoundingly successful boycott campaign against the company. Here is the recent video which is going viral. The heated argument between Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and one of his cab drivers.
The video, recorded by driver Fawzi Kamel, shows Kalanick sitting between two women. About four minutes in, his lady friends exit the car and Kamel strikes up the conversation with Kalanick. Right off the bat, the conversation is tense. Kalanick tells Kamel that Uber had to lower prices or they would be out of business.
Heated Argument With Uber Driver:
Wath The Video Here:
Kalanick: “No, no no. You misunderstand me. We started high-end. We didn’t go low-end because we wanted to. We went low-end because we had to because we’d be out of business.”
Kamel: “What? Lyft? It’s a piece of cake right there.”
Kalanick: “It seems like a piece of cake because I’ve beaten them. But if I didn’t do the things I did, we would have been beaten, I promise.”
Kamel (Cab Driver) tells Kalanick that he lost $7,000 and is “bankrupt” because of Uber’s business strategy. His financial situation is hardly unique among Uber drivers.
A few months ago, the idea that Uber and Kalanick wouldn’t be going far might have sounded silly. The company is valued at almost $70 billion, is operating in hundreds of cities across the globe, and conducts millions of trips a month. The world, it seemed, was Uber’s oyster.
However, after this video went viral, Travis wrote an email to his staff and made an attempt to apologize to Fawzi. He wrote,
“To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement. My job as your leader is to lead…and that starts with behaving in a way that makes us all proud. That is not what I did, and it cannot be explained away. It’s clear this video is a reflection of me—and the criticism we’ve received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up. This is the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it.”
Do share your views about the incident in the comment section below.