Uber President Jeff Jones Quits As Company Turmoil Continues

Jones quits Uber six months after joining due to differences over ‘beliefs and approach to leadership’.

The president of ride sharing app, Uber, Jeff Jones, has quit the company just under seven months after he was hired releasing the news through the press and apparently taking everyone at the firm by surprise.

“I joined Uber because of its mission, and the challenge to build global capabilities that would help the company mature and thrive long term,” Jones said. “It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business.” He did however wish “thousands of amazing people at the company” well. Part of Jones’s mission at Uber was to help the unrepentant company was to soften its abrasive image. Oh. The irony.

Jeff Jones in happier times.

There are rumours that the fact that the search for a new chief operating officer (COO) to work alongside chief executive Travis Kalanick did not include Jones, may have hastened his departure. According to Recode.net however, the website that broke the story, the real reason for Jones’s resignation is more likely to have been centred around the company’s continued struggle with sexual harassment issues and inherent sexism.

Jones, who is also said to not like conflict, may have found the current controversies too much to handle. Jones had been ably managing a lot of the responsibilities that the new COO will have. He joined Uber from Target, where he was the chief marketing officer and has been widely credited with modernising and transforming the retailer’s brand.

Uber has had a bad start to 2017. After being filmed arguing with a driver over falling rates, the firm’s co-founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick admitted he needed “leadership help”. Uber’s vice president of maps and business platform, Brian McClendon, has already announced his plan to leave the company at the end of the month to explore a career in politics. I guess that beats saying he wants to spend more time with his family. “I’ll be staying on as an adviser,” McClendon said in a statement to Reuters. “This fall’s election and the current fiscal crisis in Kansas is driving me to more fully participate in our democracy.”

Engineering executive Amit Singhal was ‘asked’ to resign in February due to a sexual harassment allegation stemming from his previous job at Google. Among other departures, Ed Baker, Uber’s vice president of product and growth, and Charlie Miller, a security researcher also left for new pastures.