Another top executive is out at Uber.
Uber VP of product and growth Ed Baker stepped down today after more than three years with the company. His departure was first reported by Recode and confirmed by Uber. From Recode:
[Baker’s] resignation also comes at a time when Uber employees have also complained about questionable behavior on his part.
For example, one person anonymously tipped off board member Arianna Huffington—who is one of the people conducting a wider-ranging investigation into sexism and sexual harassment at the company—via an email that Baker had engaged in a sexual encounter with another employee.
Specifically, said sources, Baker was seen “making out” at an internal Uber event held in Miami three years ago, which was seen by some employees. There was no suggestion of any sexual harassment on his part and the encounter was apparently consensual.
Baker joined Uber in 2013 from Facebook, where he had been head of international growth. He already knew Uber CEO Travis Kalanick from the “jam pad” startup brainstorming parties Kalanick hosted at his home in San Francisco during the late 2000s. At Uber, Baker was widely viewed as a member of Kalanick’s inner circle, and credited for influential decisions concerning the company’s China and India strategies.
His resignation caps another week of scandals for Uber. Over the last two weeks alone, the company has:
- Weathered allegations of sexual harassment and accounts of an unrestrained and Machiavellian workplace.
- Been accused of lying about why one of its self-driving Volvos ran a red light in San Francisco.
- Been sued by Google self-driving car spinoff Waymo for stealing trade secrets.
- Fired its senior vice president of engineering.
- Watched as an embarrassing video of Kalanick belittling a driver went viral.
- Admitted to using a creepy and highly questionable “Greyball” tool to evade law enforcement.
Go back further and there’s more. But let’s not get into that now. For all that “disruptive” is usually a compliment in Silicon Valley, lately Uber has been taking it a bit far.