The Uber Executive Who Suggested Digging Up Dirt On Critics Has Resigned

To the left, Emil Michael.

Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images

Emil Michael, the Uber executive who once suggested the ride-hail giant should dig up dirt on its critics, has left the company, Uber confirmed.

The New York Times first reported his departure. Michael, Uber's chief business officer and a close confidant of CEO Travis Kalanick, joined Uber in 2013. The company has since reached a nearly $70 billion valuation. His departure is one of more than a dozen executive exits this year alone from Uber.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Michael would resign on Monday. His departure comes as the company is grappling with the results of internal investigations into its workplace culture, launched after an ex-engineer wrote a viral blog post alleging she faced sexual harassment and sexism at the company. Uber said it fired 20 people as a result of the probe.

Michael has had a hand in several of Uber's controversies. Most recently, Recode reported that another Uber executive obtained the medical records of a woman who was sexually assaulted by her Uber driver in 2014 and circulated them within the company. Michael reportedly suggested that Ola, Uber's competitor in India, had framed Uber.

At a dinner party in 2014, he floated the idea that Uber should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up information on the personal lives of critics and reporters. Uber could spend a million dollars to hire researchers and journalists, he said, to help the company fight back against the press by looking into "your personal lives, your families," BuzzFeed reported.

Michael later said those comments "do not reflect my actual views and have no relation to the company's views or approach." Kalanick also distanced himself and the company from Michael's comments in several tweets.

from BuzzFeed - Tech https://www.buzzfeed.com/priya/the-uber-executive-who-suggested-digging-up-dirt-on-critics?utm_term=4ldqpia