Uber CEO Travis Kalanick took to Twitter on Tuesday to apologize for remarks made by SVP-Business Emil Michael, but didn't fire him.
A BuzzFeed report on Monday night quoted Michael saying the company should hire "opposition researchers" to dig up dirt on journalists who oppose his company to the tune of $1 million. Michael later apologized.
After hours of silence, Kalanick tweeted the following, which include an apology to Sarah Lacy, the founder and editor-in-chief of Pando Daily, whom Michael named as the possible target of a multi-million-dollar smear campaign:
1/ Emil's comments at the recent dinner party were terrible and do not represent the company.— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
2/ His remarks showed a lack of leadership, a lack of humanity, and a departure from our values and ideals— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
3/ His duties here at Uber do not involve communications strategy or plans and are not representative in any way of the company approach— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
4/ Instead, we should lead by inspiring our riders, our drivers and the public at large.— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
5/ We should tell the stories of progress and appeal to people’s hearts and minds— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
6/ We must be open and vulnerable enough to show people the positive principles that are the core of Uber’s culture— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
7/ We must tell the stories of progress Uber has brought to cities and show the our constituents that we are principled and mean well— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
8/ The burden is on us to show that, and until Emil’s comments we felt we were making positive steps along those lines— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
9/ But I will personally commit to our riders, partners and the public that we are up to the challenge— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
10/ We are up to the challenge to show that Uber is and will continue to be a positive member of the community— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
11/ And furthermore, I will do everything in my power towards the goal of earning that trust.— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
12/ I believe that folks who make mistakes can learn from them – myself included.— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
13/ and that also goes for Emil ..— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
13/ and last, I want to apologize to @sarahcuda— travis kalanick (@travisk) November 18, 2014
Kalanick's apology, however, didn't appease everyone:
I mean idk, as CEO, I thought you had the very real power to fire people... https://t.co/21Fr5T8ZJ0— Johana Bhuiyan (@JMBooyah) November 18, 2014
.@travisk @sarahcuda @paulcarr 13 CYA tweets and 1 sad 36 character apology. #DoingItWrong— Todd Miller (@T_Bone) November 18, 2014
@travisk Weren't you there when Emil Michael made these "terrible" comments? Why didn't you say anything then? #deleteuber #ubergate— Kaja Whitehouse (@kajawhitehouse) November 18, 2014
The comments from Michael have also spurred others to come forward with concerns about Uber's privacy policies and its treatment of journalists. Ellen Cushing, a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine, was told that Uber might access her rider logs due to her work on a story about the company.
Buzzfeed also noted in its story, which broke Michael's comments, that Uber had accessed a reporter's ride data to make a point about company policies.
Mashable reached out to many of Uber's investors with mostly silence in response. While Kalanick struck a somber tone, there were some indications that the controversy did not have much of an impact within the company.
Uber NYC GM quickly deleted this pic.twitter.com/IFkcSCKMqs— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) November 18, 2014
Uber drivers are putting the squeeze on NYC's Taxi establishment, and we sat down with execs and drivers from both sides to get their take.