Since Uber announced a vacancy for the top most job in the company, after the ouster of Travis Kalanick, there’s a queue of known appliers for the CEO position.
Among the list of interested applicants were Susan Wojcicki, who leads YouTube; Adam Bain, Twitter’s former chief operating officer; David Cush, a former CEO at Virgin America; the former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer; Thomas Staggs, an ex-COO at Disney, according the New York report.
However, there are others who are quietly advancing themselves for the position – and the former Softbank CEO Nikesh Arora is one of them.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who’s wired for problem solving and wants to make their mark by turning around the image of the company,” said Jason Hanold, managing partner at Hanold talking to NYT.
“Yes, they’re inheriting Uber’s entire toxic culture. But they’re also getting thousands of employees who are hungry to change it.”
Recently, after coming under pressure from a series of controversies, Travis Kalanick resigned from the CEO position in Uber Technologies Inc.
This year the ride-hailing app was surrounded by series of allegations including seeking report of rape victim by top official. After the incident, Uber saw string of departure including head of business Emil Micheal and President Jeff Jones. A video also showing Kalanick arguing with Uber’s driver went viral on social site.
Despite recent controversies, Uber’s business has been steady. The company revenue increased to $3.4 billion in the first quarter, while losses narrowed though they remain substantial at $708 million. Kalanick remains a billionaire given his stake in the company, with a net worth of $6.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. Uber has been valued at $69 billion.