Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has been battling a PR nightmare after the #DeleteUber hashtag began to trend, occurring when news that the executive would be pat of President Donald Trump‘s business council. Kalanick announced via an email that the company will no longer sit at the table with the council, which might prompt other businesses to follow suit.
The New York Times obtained an internal email from Kalanick that addressed his decision to step down from the council after initially deciding to work alongside the incoming administration back in December. The criticism over his decision to remain on the council by his own employees in the wake of the so-called “Muslim ban” President Trump enacted moved Kalanick to switch his position on Thursday.
From the Times:
On Thursday, Mr. Kalanick gave his answer, stepping down from Mr. Trump’s economic advisory council. “There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration, but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that,” Mr. Kalanick wrote in an email to employees obtained by The New York Times.
Mr. Kalanick’s exit from the advisory council underscores the tricky calculus facing many Silicon Valley corporate chieftains who try to work with the new administration. On one hand, many tech executives have openly tried to engage with the president, a path that is typically good for business. Yet Mr. Trump’s immigration order has been so unpopular with so many tech workers — many of whom are immigrants themselves and who advocate globalization — that they are now exerting pressure on their chief executives to push back forcefully against the administration.
The Times notes that President Trump’s connections to the tech world have become a thorn in the side for many corporations, most notably Facebook board member and Trump adviser Peter Thiel.
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Photo: Uber
