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Return of the OG toxic bros, board pay security blankets, airlines whine, and wishing for EVs
Description
Story of the Week (DR):
The dangers of not pouring water over your dropped out campfire:
Travis Kalanick sees benefits of being in stealth mode for 8 years. ‘You build a culture of people that want to build and do not need to be famous’
While studying at UCLA, Kalanick was a member of Theta Xi fraternity. In 1998, he dropped out
Only people mentioned all former Uber bros:
CTO Brian Attwell: CloudKitchens CTO says he might add an IQ test for job applicants
Eric Meyhofer
Business Insider published details of a meeting at Uber in 2018 where CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and head of the self-driving unit Eric Meyhofer were questioned by employees: “Business Insider called ATG’s culture ‘toxic’ and referred to ‘missed warning signs,’ vast dysfunction’ and ‘rampant infighting.’ Any truth in this?”
Meyhofer then launched into a story about his kids. He told Uber employees that he knew culture was great under his leadership because his teenage kids wanted to visit the Uber campus while everyone was away over Thanksgiving break.
After hearing Meyhofer's defense, a handful of employees discussed him on the anonymous chat app Blind: "Eric Meyhofer: Based on his response at all hands on ATG culture, discuss his tenure as Head of ATG!" One hundred forty-one people voted to "replace him" and 28 voted to "keep him."
In 2019: Uber re-started testing driverless cars following an accident in which one person was killed: Meyhofer: "We've seen people bully these cars. They feel like they can be more aggressive because we won't take a position on it, or we'll allow it."
Strategic Partner Anthony Levandowski: charged by the Department of Justice for the alleged theft of trade secrets from Google's self-driving unit Waymo in 2019
Judge William Alsup sentenced him to 18 months in prison: "This is the biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen. This was not small. This was massive in scale.
President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Levandowski
Pardoned for Fraud, a CEO Mounts His Comeback: ‘We Can Trust You Now’
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