Travis Kalanick was the buccaneer leader behind Uber’s exponential growth. Kalanick ignored laws and morality on his way to make Uber a billion dollar business. He fostered a toxic corporate structure that, among other things, ignored and perhaps encouraged sexual harassment.
Kalanick stepped down as Uber’s chief executive in 2017, but he did not step down from his board position. Before leaving the board at the end of December 2019, Travis sold 90% of his shares for a profit of about $2.5 billion.
Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber chronicles the rise and fall of Kalanick.
Travis’s father was an engineer who gave Kalanick his start in technology.
Travis Kalanick was born on August 6, 1976 in Northridge, California, the son of Bonnie and Donald Kalanick. Bonnie and Donald both had European roots: Bonnie was descended from a line of Viennese Jews who came to the United States in the early 20th century; Donald’s Slovak-Austrian Catholic family emigrated from Graz, Austria.
Kalanick grew up with two half-sisters and a brother, Cory, who works as a firefighter. Bonnie worked in advertising for the Los Angeles Daily Newsand Donald served as an engineer for the City of Los Angeles.
Don fostered Travis’s love of technology: the pair collaborated on science projects, including building an electrical transformer; Don introduced Travis to programming by bringing home the first computers for his son to play on.
Kalanick was a computer geek with a knack for sales. At 18, he amassed a small fortune as a young door-to-door salesman for Cutco knives.
Travis joined the University of California, Los Angeles to study business economics and computer engineering. He left late to focus on getting Scour up and running. In 2000, Scour filed for bankruptcy to protect himself from a $250 billion lawsuit brought by the music industry.
Undeterred, Kalanick launched another startup dubbed Red Swoosh, which initially struggled to attract capital. Consecutive failures forced Travis to return to his childhood home.
“I was conflicted because I was happy that he was home,” Bonnie told Kara Swisher for vanity fair. “He spent a path walking in a circle of our kitchen and living room, always on the phone trying to make that company work.”
Don, the man who nurtured Travis’s love of technology, couldn’t do anything but cheer him up. Eventually, Travis made the Red Swoosh work, earning $2 million from the sale of it, more than enough to finance his move from his parents’ house to San Francisco.
“Working for a newspaper, I was used to sales rejection all the time, so I knew what that was like,” Bonnie said. “But I was hopeful as he is very determined and will not back down when he feels he was right, he is tenacious.”
Kalanick’s mother died in an accident that seriously injured his father
Travis Kalanick with his parents, Donald and Bonnie | Travis Kalanick/Facebook
Bonnie Kalanick passed away in a tragic boating accident in late May 2017. The accident occurred on Pine Flats Lake, a beloved vacation destination for the Kalanick clan.
Travis wrote on Facebook that he declined his mom’s calls to join her and Don on the outing. The last note Bonnie sent Travis was a photo of the lake she’d taken as she’d come up from camp.
Kalanick explained that a mix-up involving his parents’ pet caused the tragic accident. He wrote:
“My mom asked my dad to take over driving, a change I’ve seen them make dozens of times before. But this time, before switching, our family dog got in the way and the steering wheel swerved to the right. My dad, seeing that the boat was heading straight for the rocks, turned the rudder back, but it was too late. The ship hit the rocks.”
A severely injured Donald managed to drag Bonnie’s lifeless body to shore, but she was long gone. She hit her head on a rock and died almost instantly. “My mother, unconscious, probably died immediately from the impact,” Travis added.
Kalanick effusively praised Bonnie, referring to her as a lover who had her heart on her sleeve. He wrote:
“When she walked into a room, her warmth, her smile and her joy filled her instantly. They were infectious. She was constantly teaching me about that other side of life: about people, about love, about her precious vacations, and about human connection and humanity.”
“I miss her terribly and I feel the hole she left in my heart, I realize much more the gift she gave me and I promise to live it and express it in her honor.”
Kalanick’s father survived five broken ribs, a broken leg and a broken vertebra
The impact of the accident threw Don into the whirlpool. He suffered five broken ribs, a broken leg and vertebra, and a collapsed lung. However, he bundled Bonnie up in life jackets and fought the cold current for two hours as she struggled to get her mate ashore.
“Boats passed but they didn’t see them. Finally, a fisherman found them. My dad had tried mouth to mouth resuscitation but he was gone,” Travis wrote.
Donald showed incredible resilience in surviving the accident and responding to treatment. In June 2017, Travis dedicated a Father’s Day post to Donald. He attached the following caption along with photos of his father:
“Dad, ever since I was little, you have always been my hero. But in recent weeks, the deep well of strength and warmth from him in the most difficult moments inspires our entire family. Happy Father’s Day to my hero for life. I love you dad.”
Most people glossed over Kalanick’s failings during this tumultuous time in his life, sending messages of condolences and encouragement. He wrote on Facebook:
“I want to thank everyone for their sincere support and prayers. In the midst of pain and anguish, they mean more than I can say. As I sit here in my father’s hospital room in Fresno, I am deeply touched every time another note arrives.”
However, some Uber drivers frustrated by Travis’s leadership shared insensitive comments on Facebook discussion groups. A relatively mild commentary read (by Observer):
“I feel very sad for his mother and I wish his father a speedy recovery. But Travis has destroyed a lot of families, so he said this; My condolences to the rest of the family and loved ones, but NOT TRAVIS.”
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Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn