Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is stepping down from President Donald Trump’s business advisory council after criticism from customers and drivers, according to Bloomberg. His participation on the council, along with more than a dozen other U.S. executives, prompted blow-back on social media after Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration. It snowballed into a #DeleteUber campaign that benefited rival Lyft.
Uber’s CEO wrote in an e-mail to employees that he had spoken briefly with the president about his concerns with Trump’s ban of immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries. Kalanick, 40, told the president that he would no longer be involved with the advisory council, he wrote in the e-mail obtained by Bloomberg.
“Immigration and openness to refugees is an important part of our country’s success and quite honestly to Uber’s,“ Kalanick wrote. “There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that. The executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America.“
Criticism of Uber has been the loudest. Kalanick has long cultivated a combative reputation after years spent fighting with governments around the world. Customers and drivers were incensed not only over his role on Trump’s council, but some also said his initial response to the immigration ban, outlined in a memo to staff last Saturday, wasn’t sufficiently critical.
At least 200,000 people deleted their Uber accounts this week, which is significantly more than average, said a person familiar with the matter. However, the number of new users exceeded deletions, the person said. Uber said the app has 40 million people using it each month globally. The Independent Drivers Guild, a group funded in part by Uber, surveyed ride-hailing drivers early this week about whether they intended to switch apps in protest. About half said they would.
The guild applauded Kalanick’s decision to leave Trump’s advisory council. “This is an important show of solidarity with the immigrant drivers who helped build Uber,“ Jim Conigliaro Jr., the group’s founder, wrote in an e-mailed statement. “We are heartened that Uber has listened to the drivers and the community on this important issue that is so integral to the promise of the American dream.“
Uber faced pressure from its employees, based in predominantly liberal San Francisco, and drivers, many of whom are immigrants. However, Uber had a lot to gain from having a direct line into the White House. The company is pushing for friendly rules toward autonomous driving and maintaining drivers’ status as independent contractors not eligible for employment benefits. Uber will continue to serve on the Trump administration’s Transportation Department committee on automation, along with Lyft.
Kalanick had never spoken to Trump before their call this week, said a person familiar with the matter. Uber’s CEO supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and joked early in the campaign at a University of California, Los Angeles, event that he would move to China if Trump were elected. He still lives in San Francisco.
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