Uber’s First CEO Resigns From Board

Uber‘s first chief executive and employee Ryan Graves resigned from the board two weeks after the ride-hailing company went public in what The Financial Times reported is the first overhaul of the management of the company.

According to The Financial Times citing a regulatory filing, Graves told Uber he was leaving the board effective Monday (May 27). This comes as Uber’s shares have suffered since its IPO two weeks ago. Shares of Uber ended the trading session last week at $41.51, under the IPO price of $45 a share. Graves hasn’t been an employee since 2017 but had stayed on the board. According to the report, he has a 1.9 percent stake in the company, which is worth $1.3 billion.

Graves was first tapped by co-founder Travis Kalanick to serve as CEO. He did that for a short time before Kalanick took over. Kalanick left Uber in 2017 after scandals under his charge.  Graves kept a low profile at the ride-hailing startup, staying away from the scandals that had hurt the company’s reputation and resulted in a new CEO and an overhaul of the company culture.

When Graves left the company he was the vice-president of global operations.  Graves is currently CEO of Saltwater Capital, which is an investment firm he started in January of last year.  The executive is also on the board of Charity Water, a clean water non-profit. Graves, reported The Financial Times, has vowed to donate 1 percent of his Uber stake to Charity Water.

“As a thoughtful and engaged director, Ryan has continued to add value to Uber, offering insights and judgments that have helped us navigate the ups and downs of the business as we have grown over the past decade,” Ron Sugar, Uber’s independent chairman, said in a statement to The Financial Times. “While this is a bittersweet moment, we accept his personal decision that this is the right time for him to step down.”