Uber
Uber president Jeff Jones.
Jones' departure is not a direct result of the company's search for a new COO, one that could've outranked him, but because Uber was "not the situation he signed on for," according to Recode.
Uber did not immediately respond to comment.
Since the beginning of the year, Uber has been hit with a blistering few weeks of bad press. In January, over 200,000 customers deleted Uber in one weekend as part of the #DeleteUber movement. Since then, the company has had to launch an internal investigation into its workplace culture after a former engineer published a tell-all blog post about the gender bias and sexual harassment she allegedly endured at the company.
Uber has also been sued by its investor, Google, for allegedly using stolen technology and had details of a program designed to deceive government authorities published in the last two weeks.
According to Recode, Jones departure is "directly" related to the number of scandals at the company. Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick pledged to find leadership help and hire a new No. 2 as the result of the scandals, although many speculated that Jones initial role at the company was to be that right-hand man.
When the company announced his hire in August, Kalanick lauded the former Target exec's experience as CMO and was excited about what he would bring to the ride-hailing giant.
Jones' role as president meant he was in charge of all of Uber's operations, marketing, and customer support around the globe - a position that unseated Uber's first CEO Ryan Graves.
Yet, Jones had a rough few months on the job, including a disastrous Q&A with drivers that did little more than stoke the flames of ire directed toward the company. It's unclear who will now take on Jones' responsibilities within the company.
His departure is the latest in a string of high profile leadership departures. Uber's head of AI, Gary Marcus, left to become a special advisor to the company in March. Former Twitter engineer Raffi Krikorian stepped down from his role as a senior director of engineer at Uber's Advanced Technologies Center in late February. Another key member of Uber's self-driving team, Charlie Miller, had left Uber to join Chinese rival Didi's self-driving car lab.
Uber's also had two executives resign as the company investigates sexual harassment and gender bias in its workplace. Amit Singhal was asked to resign as SVP of engineering by CEO Travis Kalanick after it was revealed he didn't inform Uber about previous allegations of sexual assault. Uber's VP of Product and Growth Ed Baker also resigned under mysterious circumstances.