SCOBLE: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Has To Go
Flickr/scobleizerRobert ScobleRobert Scoble has announced that he believes Travis Kalanick should be removed as CEO of Uber.
He writes in a Facebook post that he finds Uber executive Emil Michael's comment about digging up dirt on journalists unacceptable, and believes that the only way to "reboot the culture" of the company is for Travis to leave.
He says that if Travis doesn't resign the investors should insist that he go.
"Uber can be saved. Travis can not," he says. "Travis, if I were you I would resign and help your company heal."
He believes that once Travis is gone Uber should work to repair it's relationship with Sarah Lacy, and communicate to staff that being anti-journalist or anti-woman will not be tolerated.
This is something Scoble himself learned when he first started at Microsoft.
"An exec pulled me aside and told me how I could get fired. Pissing off journalists and analysts were very high on the list. This is how culture gets translated," he says.
He also implies that the fiasco has broader business implications and could affect Uber's bottom line.
"This wound is a lot deeper than I thought and IS changing consumer behavior," he warns, "I am in Pittsburgh speaking to business people (not tech people) and you should hear what they are saying about Uber. This company has deeply wounded itself."
He personally has not deleted the app or his Uber account, however he says that the fiasco "has changed which app I use first."