The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire

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8 years ago, Travis Kalanick launched UberCab startup software in San Francisco, USA. Just a few years later, Uber rose to become one of the most attractive start-up software, and today, it is one of the most lucrative companies in Silicon Valley.

Uber operates in nearly 600 cities around the world and it is said to be worth nearly $ 70 billion. Thanks to the towering company valuation, Traber Kalanick, Uber's 40-year-old chief executive, was on Forbes' world billionaire list, with an estimated personal wealth of about $ 6 billion.

But Uber - and Kalanick - have been stuck in a scandal in the last few months , leading to a four-month investigation that has more than 20 sackings and Kalanick is currently on leave at the company. .

Join us to learn about the life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, the controversial billionaire of Uber in the article below!

CEO Uber Travis Kalanick grew up in Northridge, California - a Los Angeles suburb. As a child, Travis Kalanick had dreamed of being a spy.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 1 Photo source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty.

Travis Kalanick achieved good academic and development achievements in the field of sports, jogging and soccer. However, Kalanick was bullied by former students and after that, he vowed never to let anyone do that to himself.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 2 Photo source: Flickr / FortuneLiveMedia

But Kalanick eventually stepped into business in the path of his mother, a retail advertiser. Travis Kalanick has worked through many different sales jobs and started self-trading at age 18.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 3 Photo source: Mario Tama / Getty Images

CEO Travis Kalanick's parents, Don and Bonnie appeared at the launch of Uber in Los Angeles.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 4 Photo source: Instagram / Travis Kalanick

Travis Kalanick studied computing at the University of California in Los Angeles. But Travis Kalanick dropped out of school in 1998 with good reason .

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 5 Photo source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Kalanick dropped out of school to focus on developing a Scour search engine, with classmates Michael Todd and Vince Busam.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 6 Image source: imgarcade.com

When working full-time for Scour, Travis Kalanick received no salary at all. The capital to develop this search engine was mobilized from friends and family of a Scour co-founder.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 7 Photo source: Beck Diefenbach / Reuters.

After being sued by some entertainment companies demanding $ 250 billion in compensation, Scour filed for bankruptcy.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 8 Image source: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Not giving up, Travis Kalanick continues to return to RedSwoosh, a network-software company. But he had disagreements with the co-founder Michael Todd, leading to RedSwoosh constantly struggling in the crisis.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 9 Photo source: Flickr / Big Omaha / Malone & Company.

However, things gradually improved. Kalanick returned home with his parents and mobilized additional funding. In 2007, Kalanick sold RedSwoosh to Akamai for $ 23 million and became a millionaire.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 10 Photo source: Flickr / Niall Kennedy.

The first year after becoming a millionaire, Travis Kalanick took the time to travel around the world. He went to Spain, Japan, Greece, Iceland, Greenland, Hawaii (twice), France (twice), Australia, Portugal, Cape Verde, and Senegal.

At the end of 2008, at LeWeb technology conference, Travis Kalanick first flashed the idea of ​​creating Uber. He envisioned it as a way to reduce vehicle service costs through a touch button on a smartphone.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 11 Photo source: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images.

However, what Travis Kalanick disliked with traditional taxis stemmed from a bad experience in the previous few years: Travis Kalanick had an argument with a taxi driver and jumped out of the car while the car was moving. .

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 12 Photo source: Robert Johnson

Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar and Conrad Whelan are responsible for building the first version of Uber called UberCab. Travis Kalanick's mission served as a " senior advisor ". Initially, UberCab cost about 1.5 times more than a taxi. Customers can request a car in San Francisco by sending a text message or pressing a button.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 13 The first version of Uber.Photo source: RyanGraves.org

In early 2010, Ryan Graves became UberCab's General Manager and shortly thereafter, he became CEO .

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 14 Photo source: REUTERS / Beck Diefenbach

In June 2010, UberCab was released in San Francisco and made a big sound, although it initially did not attract many investors.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 15 Photo source: Beck Diefenbach / Reuters.

. Until the summer of 2010, Uber received $ 1.25 million from the first round of funding. The money was invested by Chris Sacca of Kalanick and co-founder of Napster Shawn Fanning. Uber continues to raise $ 11.56 billion in venture capital.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 16 Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning.Photo source: Reuters

In December of the same year, Kalanick became CEO and Graves became Uber's CEO. According to both of these arrangements, it is absolutely not controversial.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 17 Photo source: Flickr / Fortune

After San Francisco, Uber quickly expanded its service to other US cities.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 18 Photo source: REUTERS / Eduardo Munoz

In May 2011, Uber debuted in New York City and today, New York is one of Uber's largest markets: More than 168,000 Uber trips served daily in New York City. Uber currently operates in more than 260 cities in North America.

In December 2011, Uber began to attack foreign markets, starting with Paris - the first city outside the United States. Uber currently operates in 581 cities worldwide.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 19 Photo source: Shutterstock

Thanks to Uber's high valuation, Travis Kalanick - with co-founder Uber, Garrett Camp and Ryan Graves - was named in the Forbes list of world billionaires in 2015.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 20 Photo source: REUTERS / Danish Siddiqui

The co-founder of Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp has a bigger stake than Graves in the company, which explains why their net worth is $ 6.3 billion, while Graves is only $ 1.58 billion. .

In early 2015, Uber announced plans to test autonomous cars in Pittsburgh.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 21 A self-driving car Uber in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Photo source: Uber

The project has been expanded and Uber inspects its self-driving cars in San Francisco and Arizona. It was a project that Kalanick was particularly interested in - he believed that the future of Uber depended on it.

" If we are not bound for the first time, then the first person, or the first entity, will then launch a car sharing network that is cheaper or more quality than Uber, then Uber is no longer Something else, "Kalanick told Business Insider in August 2016.

Travis Kalanick's personality - described by people who know he is reckless and arrogant, but that may be one of the reasons for Uber's success.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 22 Image source: Re / Code.

. but in general, Kalanick and Uber did not get much agreement.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 23 Photo source: Reuters Staff

Uber was against the first scandal in 2014, in an interview with GQ, Kalanick was called a "boob-er" service because it helped attract women.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 24 Photo source: Steve Jennings / Getty Images

The company's strong culture of work, something that many consider to be the driving force for growth, has disintegrated, especially in February 2017 , when a former employee named Susan Fowler posted an article. The blog details the sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the company, as well as the lack of quick response from the human resources department while working at Uber. Kalanick immediately promised to look into Fowler's investigation and hire former US advisor, Eric Holder to direct the investigation.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 25 Photo source: Reuters / Staff

Since that time, the company has been overwhelmed by an outside flow of information.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 26 Photo source: AP Photo / Eric Risberg

The New York Times released a report on the February threatening incident that employees were thought to have made cocaine in the company and the manager was fired after " groping " many women.

Then in the next two weeks, Google sued Uber, accusing the company of stealing Google's self-driving vehicle technology; a video appeared capturing Travis Kalanick's image in an obscene dispute with a driver.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 27 Photo Source: YouTube / Bloomberg

The New York Times revealed that Uber had moved to cities where the company was not allowed to operate thanks to the help of a tool called Greyball . ( The program gives government officials a fake version of the Uber app with "ghost cars" for drivers not to be arrested .)

After Bloomberg posted a video of the controversy between Travis Kalanick and an Uber driver feeling the company unfairly lowered the price after he hired a new car by saying " Some people dislike it." their own responsibility , "an American Professional Basketball League ( MLB ) club has ended its partnership with the company, according to a Uber manager who knows the situation.

Although Kalanick used to use Uber only to go around and occasionally drive Uber, Kalanick even hired a private driver.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 28 Photo source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Travis Kalanick dated the violinist Gabi Holzwarth for two years, but the couple broke up in August 2016.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 29 Photo source: Paul Morigi / Getty

In March 2017, Gabi Holzwarth gave a detailed description of the " sexualism " she witnessed at Uber while dating Kalanick, including a visit to a " dark " bar in Korea. with Kalanick and the staff in 2014.

Of course, Uber is also facing many conflicting opinions. In November last year, at a dinner of influential characters, a Uber executive - Emil Michael suggested the company theoretically could exploit personal information through reporters there. Very close relationship with the company.

In the same month, Kalanick's company attracted many researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's self-driving car division to work at the company's Pittsburgh center. There are rumors that this will allow Uber to produce autonomous cars.

Uber aspires to dominate the world, while its competitors are struggling to dominate the US market. Lyft, one of Uber's closest competitors, only operates in the US while Uber operates in 58 countries around the world.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 30 Kalanick and engineer Uber Anthony Levandowski.Photo source: Associated Press

Uber's problems worsened in February, when Google's unmanned vehicle program, now called Waymo, filed a complaint alleging that Levandowski stole files from Google and Uber using them to install. Self-driving car design. Google claims Uber plans to " hide the plan " with former Google employees, Anthony Levandowski, to steal Google's autonomous self-driving technology. In April, Levandowski was fired from Uber.

In May, Travis Kalanick faced tragedy: His parents, Bonnie and Donald Kalanick, encountered a boat accident in California.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 31 Photo source: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ms. Bonnie Kalanick died in an accident, and Mr. Donald Kalanick was taken to hospital in critical condition. Travis Kalanick wrote on Facebook in early June that his father's condition has gradually improved.

In June, Travis Kalanick's right-hand man, Vice President of Uber business - Emil Michael, left Uber .

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 32 Photo source: Uber

More recently, Michael's name reappeared in the media crisis that was making Uber wobble. He visited a " dark " bar in South Korea with Travis Kalanick and other employees in 2014. He is also thought to be one of the leaders who saw the medical records of a woman who was a Uber driver. rape in India.

However, Michael undeniably plays an important role in monitoring Uber's efforts to call billions of dollars from investors, helping Uber become the world's most valuable startup.

Uber was also rumored to be considering giving Kalanick a temporary absence after his mother's death in a ship accident last month.

Also in June, Uber fired more than 20 employees after an investigation showed 215 allegations of sexual harassment at the company .

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 33 Photo source: Thomson Reuters

Uber also released a 13-page report after a four-month investigation into the company's culture by the law firm of American Eric Holder Corporation. The report recommends extensive changes to Uber's awkward " bro bro culture, " more accountability, and new efforts to increase diversity in the company.

Travis Kalanick has been temporarily absent from the company for a period of time to " work with himself " and face the family's tragedy after his mother's death in a ship accident last month. When returning, Travis Kalanick will be stripped of some duties and handed over to a new executive.

The life of ups and downs of CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber's controversial billionaire Picture 34 Photo source: REUTERS / Adnan Abidi

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