by Isaac, Mike
317He bankrolled his college years: Cyrus Farivar, “How Sprint’s New Boss Lost $70 Billion of His Own Cash (and Still Stayed Rich),” Ars Technica, October 16, 2012, https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/how-sprints-new-boss-lost-70-billion-of-his-own-cash-and-still-stayed-rich/.
317He returned to Japan: Andrew Ross Sorkin, “A Key Figure in the Future of Yahoo,” Dealbook, New York Times, December 13, 2010, https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/a-key-figure-in-the-future-of-yahoo/.
317“crazy guy who bet on the future”: Walter Sim, “SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, the ‘Crazy Guy Who Bet on the Future,’ ” Straits Times, December 12, 2016, https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/softbanks-masayoshi-son-the-crazy-guy-who-bet-on-the-future.
317He designed the investment vehicle for speed: Dana Olsen, “Vision Fund 101: Inside SoftBank’s $98B Vehicle,” PitchBook, August 2, 2017, https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/vision-fund-101-inside-softbanks-93b-vehicle.
Chapter 31: THE GRAND BARGAIN
319The storied corporation had lost: Steve Blank, “Why GE’s Jeff Immelt Lost His Job: Disruption and Activist Investors,” Harvard Business Review, October 30, 2017, https://hbr.org/2017/10/why-ges-jeff-immelt-lost-his-job-disruption-and-activist-investors.
320“There’s this chip you have”: Sheelah Kolhatkar, “At Uber, A New C.E.O. Shifts Gears,” The New Yorker, April 9, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/09/at-uber-a-new-ceo-shifts-gears.
320After Allen & Company: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/09/at-uber-a-new-ceo-shifts-gears.
324“I have decided not to pursue”: Jeff Immelt (@JeffImmelt), “I have decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber. I have immense respect for the company & founders – Travis, Garrett and Ryan.” Twitter, August 27, 2017, 11:43 a.m., https://twitter.com/JeffImmelt/status/901832519913537540.
324People close to Immelt: Kara Swisher, “Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt Says He Is No Longer Vying to Be Uber CEO,” Recode, August 27, 2017, https://www.recode.net/2017/8/27/16211254/former-ge-ceo-jeff-immelt-out-uber-ceo.
325Shortly after five o’clock: Mike Isaac, “Uber Chooses Expedia’s Chief as C.E.O., Ending Contentious Search,” New York Times, August 27, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/27/technology/uber-ceo-search.html.
326Son reached a deal: Mike Isaac, “Uber Sells Stake to SoftBank, Valuing Ride-Hailing Giant at $48 Billion,” New York Times, December 28, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/technology/uber-softbank-stake.html.
327It was a pure preemptive strike: Katie Benner and Mike Isaac, “In Power Move at Uber, Travis Kalanick Appoints 2 to Board,” New York Times, September 29, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/technology/uber-travis-kalanick-board.html.
327“one share, one vote”: Katie Benner and Mike Isaac, “Uber’s Board Approves Changes to Reshape Company’s Power Balance,” New York Times, October 3, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/technology/ubers-board-approves-changes-to-reshape-power-balance.html.
EPILOGUE
331“180 days of change”: Rachel Holt and Aaron Schildkrout, “180 Days: You Asked, and We’re Answering,” Uber, https://pages.et.uber.com/180-days/.
332“We do the right thing. Period.”: Dara Khosrowshahi, “Uber’s New Cultural Norms,” LinkedIn, November 7, 2017, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ubers-new-cultural-norms-dara-khosrowshahi/.
332a full-throated repudiation: Mike Isaac, “Uber’s New Mantra: ‘We Do the Right Thing. Period.,’ ” New York Times, November 7, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/technology/uber-dara-khosrowshahi.html.
332dubbed the new “Dad”: Geoffrey A. Fowler, “I Was Team #DeleteUber. Can Uber’s New Boss Change My Mind?,” Washington Post, May 11, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/05/11/i-was-team-deleteuber-can-ubers-new-boss-change-my-mind/?utm_term=.affb048f5b91.
332Uber blanketed media with ads: Priya Anand, “Uber to Spend Up to $500 Million on Ad Campaign,” The Information, June 5, 2018, https://www.theinformation.com/articles/uber-to-spend-up-to-500-million-on-ad-campaign.
333“Khosrowshahi has been perfecting his brand”: Jessi Hempel, “One Year In, The Real Work Begins For Uber’s CEO,” Wired, September 6, 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/dara-khosrowshahi-uber-ceo-problems-lyft/.
333“He’s back?”: Anthony Levandowski, “Pronto Means Ready,” Medium, December 18, 2018, https://medium.com/pronto-ai/pronto-means-ready-e885bc8ec9e9.
333“Way of the Future”: Mark Harris, “Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence,” Wired, November 15, 2017, https://www.wired.com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-intelligence-religion/.
338Larry Page grew increasingly “unpumped”: Daisuke Wakabayashi, “Why Google’s Bosses Became ‘Unpumped’ About Uber,” New York Times, February 7, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/technology/uber-waymo-lawsuit.html.
338“He answered every question”: Eric Newcomer, “Inside the Abrupt End of Silicon Valley’s Biggest Trial,” Bloomberg, February 9, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-09/inside-the-abrupt-end-of-silicon-valley-s-biggest-trial.
338As part of the terms of the settlement: Daisuke Wakabayashi, “Uber and Waymo Settle Trade Secrets Suit Over Driverless Cars,” New York Times, February 9, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/technology/uber-waymo-lawsuit-driverless.html.
INDEX
Page numbers followed by n refer to footnotes.
510 Systems, 108
ABC, 131
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, 317
Abyzov, Ilya, 90
Accel, 40
Adobe, 27, 39
Advanced Micro Devices, 67
Advanced Technologies Group, 184
Agenda, 67
AIG, 33
Airbnb, xiii, 6, 65, 224
Akamai Technologies, 29, 31, 32
Albarrán, Tammy, 224, 226, 271–72, 275
Alexander, Eric, 260–61, 262, 337
Alfonso, Melene, 16
Alipay, 148
Allen & Company, 319, 320
Alltel, 100
Alphabet, 232. See also Google
Alsup, William, 255–56
Amazon, 4, 11–14, 27, 35, 68–69, 92n, 111, 115, 154, 195, 231n
Amazon Web Services (AWS), 34–35, 39
American Civil Liberties Union, 211
Andreessen, Marc, 69n, 75
Andreessen Horowitz, 40, 184
Android, 156, 159
AOL, 31, 69n, 229, 230
APAC, 260
Apple, 4, 36, 38–40, 59, 132, 165, 195, 233, 235, 245, 317. See also specific products
the Apple problem, 153–64
App Store, 37, 39–40, 59, 155, 157–63, 235, 245
Aquafina, 60
Arab Spring, 199
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, xv
Arrington, Michael, 55, 58
Arro, 113
Asia, 139, 140–52, 187, 259, 260. See also specific countries
AT&T, 59, 92
Atwood, Renee, 135
August Capital, 31
Austin, Texas, 115, 116
Axis Theater, 10–15
Babbage, 39
Baker, Ed, 137, 174, 254
Baldwin, Alec, 90
Bangalore, India, 148
Bannon, Steve, 207
Bar Crudo, 78
Barrett, David, 49
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), 41
Bass, Robert, 277
the Battery, 4
BD, Akshay, 148
Beijing, China, 142
Benchmark Capital, 14, 40, 65, 70, 78–80, 282–86, 311–17, 320, 323, 324–26, 335
attempts to find Kalanick’s replacement and, 314–16
Grand Bargain and, 326�
��27
plan to force Kalanick’s hand, 289–91, 292–306
Benioff, Marc, 201
Benton, Dan, 67
Best Buy, 39
Beyoncé, 7–8
Bezos, Jeff, 11, 13, 35, 54, 69, 140, 231n, 332
Biewald, Lukas, 49
Big Tech, 201
Bigwords.com, 26
BlackBerry, 36
“Black Gold,” 139
Bloomberg Businessweek, 121
Bloomberg News, 237, 254, 256
Blue Bottle, 98
Bob, 241, 242, 243, 244, 246
Bonderman, David, 101, 202, 255, 270, 272, 274, 276–84, 296, 321
Booker, Cory, 179
Brazil, 174
Brin, Sergey, 34, 54, 76–77, 96, 100, 121, 140, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180
Brown, Mike, 150n
Buffett, Warren, 76–77
Burkle, Ron, 23
Burner, 146
Burning Man, 42
Burns, Ursula, 327
Bush, George W., 229
Bush, Sophia, 193
Bush administration, 33
BuzzFeed, 127n, 128–31, 129n, 156
BuzzFeed News, 128–31
Cabulous, 78
Caldbeck, Justin, 285
California, 168. See also specific cities
transit authorities in, 254–55
Callinicos, Brent, 122–24, 278
Cambridge, England, 228
Cambridge Analytica, 200
Camp, Garrett, 56–58, 60, 64, 101, 270–72, 287–88, 301, 313, 324, 341
allegiance to Kalanick, 97, 270–72, 287–88, 301
fixation on branding, 58
founder’s challenge and, 53–54
on Uber’s board, 79–80
vision for Uber, 40, 41–45, 48–50, 85
Campbell, Harry, 248
Carlisle, Doug, 293
Carnegie Mellon University, 184
Carolan, Shawn, 192, 288, 293, 301–2
Carr, Paul, 119, 129
Carter, Graydon, 126, 163n
Carter, Shawn, 54, 194. See also Jay-Z
Casino Royale, 44
The Castro, 47–48
CBS, 131
Chai, Nelson, 332
Chengdu, China, 142, 146
Cheng Wei, 141–42
Cherry, 188
Chicago, Illinois, 55, 83, 84, 165, 204, 292
China, 122, 140–52, 153–55, 187, 202, 211, 245, 257, 258, 312
Christensen, Clayton, 75
Citi Bike, 134
Clark, Craig, 258, 259
Clinton, Hillary, campaign of, 200, 201
CNBC, 273
CNN, 273, 303
Coca-Cola, 189–90
Code Conference, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180
Code.org, 92n
Cohler, Matt, 283, 293–95, 296–305, 313, 315, 324–25
COIN program, 166, 178, 257, 259
Colorado, 115
Communication Workers Union, 204
Communist Party, 141, 204
Compaq, 67
Congress, 200
Cook, Tim, 154, 157, 158, 162, 163–64, 264
Cooley, 289
Costolo, Dick, 140
Coulter, Jim, 277–78
Course, David, 67
Covington & Burling, 224
Covington & Burling, 260, 269–70, 271, 310
Craig, Daniel, 44
Craigslist, 28
the Creamery, 4, 42
Creative Artists Agency (CAA), 23, 189
Credit Suisse First Boston, 67
CrowdFlower, 46
Cuban, Mark, 31
Cue, Eddy, 157–58, 159, 160–62, 163, 245
Cupertino, California, 158, 160, 161
Curb, 113
DARPA Robotics Challenge, 107
Darwins, 163, 163n
Davos, Switzerland, 31
De Blasio, Bill, 116, 116n, 117
Dehli, India, 261
#deleteUber campaign, 208–10, 254
Dell, Michael, 67
Demeter, Steve, 39
Department of Defense, 107
Deutsche Bank, 69
Diaz, Cameron, 98
DiCaprio, Leonardo, 193
Dickenson, Texas, 66
DiDi, 141–42, 146, 147–52, 187, 202, 257, 258
Didi Chuxing, 141–42
Didi Dache, 122, 122n, 142
Diller, Barry, 307–8, 320, 333
Doerr, John, 35–37, 38, 39, 40, 201
DogVacay, 65
Dole, Bob, 229
DoorDash, 9
Dorsey, Jack, 202
Dropbox, 6
Drummond, David, 99, 100, 105, 106, 158, 176, 178–79, 180
eBay, 27, 43, 65, 169–71, 312
Einstein, Albert, 54
Eisner, Michael, 23
Ellison, Larry, 67
Elysian Hotel, 165
Encore Las Vegas, 7
England, Erich, xv–xvii, 243–44
Ericsson, 44
Expedia.com, 319, 320, 322, 327–28, 331
Expensify, 46
Facebook, 9–10, 21–22, 56, 74, 92n, 93, 113, 171, 174, 189, 333
copies Snapchat’s core feature, 235
dual-class structure and, 77
ex-Uber employees at, 224
IPO of, 5, 97
politics and, 200–201
reliance on advertising, 154
Sidecar and, 86
SREs at, 215
Uber recruits from, 4
women employees at, 226
Fandango, 92
Fannie Mae, 33
FBI, 171
Federal Reserve Bank, 27, 33, 34
Fenton, Peter, 283, 293–305
Fidelity Investments, 97, 297n, 300
First Round Capital, 57, 288, 288n, 289, 293, 326
Flipboard, 92n
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 260
Forstall, Scott, 38
Formspring, 46
Fortune magazine, 127–28
Four Seasons Hotel, 105, 265
Foursqure, 55
Fowler, Susan J., 196, 199, 213–22, 223–26, 235, 241–42, 254, 285
Fox News, 204
Freddie Mac, 33
Freitas, Ryan, 28
Fucked Company, 28, 31
FuncoLand, 39
Gallagher, Leigh, 127–28
Gap Inc., 189
Gates, Bill, 37, 67
Gawker, 205
Geidt, Austin, 13, 60–62, 63, 82, 86, 192–93
General Electric, 314, 319
Gicinto, Nick, 257
Gingrich, Newt, 229
Giron, Joe, 156
Glade Brook Capital Partners, 300
Gladwell, Malcolm, 126
Go-Jek, 187
Gold Club, 192
Goldman Sachs, 69, 93, 100, 132
Gomez, Henry, 313
Google, 4–6, 9, 31, 36, 96–99, 99n, 147, 158, 172, 195
as advertising company, 154
“Don’t be evil” mantra of, 76–77, 76n
Google Capital, 100
Google Glass, 177n
Google Maps, 107, 148
Googleplex, 105, 107, 181
Google Ventures, 98–101, 99n, 105–7, 157, 202, 283, 326
Google X, 105–6, 109–10
Gulfstream V, 178
headquarters of, 105
HR and employees of, 224–26, 333
IPO of, 76–77
self-driving cars and, 105–10, 176–77, 180, 232–35, 233–3
6
Trump’s election and, 199–200
Gore-Coty, Pierre-Dimitry, 309
GQ magazine, 119, 120, 221
Grab, 148, 150, 187, 258, 259–60, 333
Graf, Daniel, 237, 309
Gramercy Park Hotel, 127, 130
Graves, Molly, 56
Graves, Ryan, 13, 63, 82, 124, 135, 165, 191, 309, 312–13, 321, 324, 341
allegiance to Kalanick, 97, 270–72, 287–88, 299, 301
background of, 54–55
Lyft and, 86
selected to be Uber’s first CEO, 55–59
on Uber’s board, 79–80
Great Recession, 33–34, 132
Green, Logan, 85, 86, 120, 186, 187, 188, 189
Greyball, xvii, xviii, 242–53, 254
Greylock Partners, 74
Groupon, 77
Grubhub, 65
Guadalajara, Mexico, 172–74
Guetta, David, 7
Gurgaon, India, 149–50
Gurley, John, 66
Gurley, John William “Bill,” 14, 69n, 187, 202, 255, 264n, 270, 272, 274, 276, 279, 288n
after showdown, 308–10
annoyance with Kalanick, 122–26
attempts to find Kalanick’s replacement and, 314–16, 321
blogging by, 125
confers with spurned investors, 288–89
connects Kalanick and Michael, 93–94
desire for proper corporate governance, 332, 334–35
fundraising and, 92
Grand Bargain and, 326–27, 331
investment talent of, 64–71, 78–80
plan to force Kalanick’s hand, 289–91, 292–306, 292n
at SXSW, 125–26
the syndicate and, 282–86, 303–4
on Uber’s board, 79–80
wishes Kalanick well, 299
Gurley, Lucia, 66
Gutmann, Amy, 214–15
H&R Block, 249
Hacker News, 156, 159
Hales, Charlie, xii, xiii
Harford, Barney, 331, 331n
Harvey, Kevin, 70
Hayes, Rob, 57, 63, 78, 288, 288n, 293
Hazelbaker, Jill, 225, 237, 239, 240
“Heaven,” 156, 259
Heidrick & Struggles, 312–13, 324
“Hell,” 257
Henley, Mat, 178, 259
Hewlett-Packard, 144, 312, 313, 314, 323
Highway 101, 28
Holden, Jeff, 120
Holder, Eric, 224, 225–26, 254, 260, 266, 275, 283
Holder Report, 254, 266, 269–81, 283, 296, 299, 341
