In a bid to fill its leadership vacuum, ride sharing giant Uber has been searching for a new CEO.
And among its candidates is reportedly Hewlett Packard (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman. According to Bloomberg, Whitman has recently been meeting with the troubled company’s leadership.
Uber has reportedly developed a short list of less than six CEO candidates in the hopes of filling the role by early September, although it’s unclear who the other candidates are.
The search comes after Uber’s founder Travis Kalanick resigned in June. By then, the ride-hailing company had been shaken up by a series of scandals, including boycotts and allegations of systemic sexual harassment that resulted in the dismissal of more than 20 employees.
Since then, some critics have commented that Uber should hire a woman CEO as its next move. Names including Facebook (FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg, Thrive Global founder Ariana Huffington, former Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer, as well as Ford’s (F) Mark Fields and former General Electric (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt have also been floated.
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Whether or not any of them are interested in the role is another question. A spokesperson for HPE told Bloomberg that Whitman is in no rush to leave the company: “As Meg has said several times before, she is fully committed to HPE and plans to stay with the company until her work is done.”
Whoever inherits the role, however, will be dealing with something of a morass. The investigation into sexual harassment claims appears to still be ongoing. Meanwhile, Uber will have to walk carefully as it tries to hire more women, who currently make up about 22% of the company’s leadership. At the same time, Uber is still operating sans Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel, and more.
