America’s most highly valued tech “startup” suddenly has no top bean counter. Uber Technologies chief financial officer Brent Callinicos is stepping down, according to an internal memo first cited by the Wall Street Journal (paywall). No replacement has yet been named.
In the memo, obtained by Quartz, Callinicos says he is “going to step back and spend some time with my family, and let someone else take this amazing company to the next level as CFO”.
That next level presumably involves an IPO, and already speculation about the move is headed in that direction.
Callinicos will remain as an advisor to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who hailed his contribution to the company. “Almost 2 years ago, I brought on one of the great financial operators in Silicon Valley as our CFO. Though two years sounds short, Uber was a much smaller startup then—about 1/10th the size we are today,” he said in the staff memo.
The highly popular and at times controversial app-enabled car hailing service is one of the best funded and highly valued privately held tech companies on the planet. It last raised money at a valuation north of $40 billion.
If the replacement is someone with Wall Street experience, it would be a signal that the company’s march toward an IPO is getting closer.