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Uber CEO quits but is it enough? (The 3:59, Ep. 244)

2017-06-21
good morning from the scene that New York studios its 359 episode 244 and it is a packed house today BBG here with Ben Fox Ruben Roger Chang and Alfred a and we got a lot to talk about yeah do you even have the graphic for all three of us I don't whoa we've overwhelmed the graphics we broke the podcast onto the big headline we will be talking about uber CEO Travis kalanick officially stepping down not just taking a leave of absence but resigning from the company as CEO he's staying as a board member though get out we'll be talking about the 1+5 the the best phone you've probably never heard of and I will talk about a Jones feature on love and breakups in the YouTube era so as always if you have any questions leave it in the comments section Brian will get to them and pick up the best we'll get to them in about three minutes in 59 seconds from here we go in three two welcome to the 359 I'm Roger che I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred Aang big news from uber CEO Travis comics said he would resign its company still grapples with heaps of controversy this comes after he said last week that he would take a leave of absence and so while he's still saying the board this is definitely a more permanent move but I asked is this enough I mean I'm just surprised that actually happened like it money talks basically there was an investor COO yeah and they were like we got to get rid of you and I mean like did you expect this to happen this quickly no I honestly I thought when he took his leave of absence I thought that was the code for like I'm actually quitting but I got saving face because he made these comments about you know uber 2.0 and try really to point and Travis 2.0 but in reality like you can't have it uber 2.0 with Travis to CEO right it's true but like why didn't he just resign then yeah I'm kind of awkward I'm surprised that you're surprised that this happened I saw this coming like a mile away this man was like the samsung galaxy note seven of like see like his oh my god like tainted with you know I agree bad press yeah I agree I just thought it might take a little longer you're right though it's true but what I wonder though is you know in terms of this this culture that he's built like is trav leaving enough like or is it do you need sort of a top-to-bottom overhaul I mean entire company they removed like a lot of people yeah yeah it's not just try but I mean you've noted many times that like all the employees like top to bottom tent well like ass up for a woman stand alike he's a popular guy within the company right so it is it's sort of a cultural that goes top to bottom it's not you just some of those few execs and so do you know like who's now being viewed as the figure that could actually change the culture there that's the same on come on you know the name Arianna Huffington who's Arthur Burton is a board member I know it's been getting much more vocal lately saying he's not involved with the day-to-day operations no she's not involved with the day-to-day operations but she's definitely increasing her influence you know company you know who is running this company right now no I don't was a like a robot member committee of executives good this company is literally being run by committee now luckily it's a middleman operation that just like coasts along on its own that's sure there's enough automation in the the whole process that the drivers can you know basically just collecting they can just mint money even though they like the company itself is falling commit money not the drivers and I feel like that's where it's they change about them that that is true alright let's so let's move on we got to talk about the 1+5 which are on lynn law called an outstanding phone that gives you the most bang for your buck editor's choice an Editors Choice Award I mean this is a phone that you probably never heard of unless you're one of the more savvy phone customers you never heard of the oneplus brand I'm a savvy phone customer I mean I would disagree with that there was a pop-up shop in New York City and the lines were went like around the block yeah it actually it was at the Meatpacking District and the line literally reached from Apple Store to Samsung store in the Meatpacking District that's how long way went around the block that said this is New York City I imagine there are a lot of sad customers in New York City travel to middle America do you think you'll see any more oneplus fans there I I don't think I'll see that many where as I do in New York but I will say this looks like a stellar phone and I kind of want to get my hands on it and it's cheaper than a lot of other Android it's definitely it's known for high quality material specs for a very affordable price alright lastly you'll want to check out John Sullivan's feature looking at the consequences of youtubers living their lives in such a public fashion which includes romances and breakups a lot of these vloggers have experienced a lot backlash actually when they when they break up with really their fans expecting all the intimate details yeah I mean this happens to us being huge YouTube stars ourselves uh so yeah definitely so married by the way love you Angela the only because you don't want to explain to no jeez Alfred Duncan high in trouble alright more of these stories check us out and see net and road to chain Ben Fox Ruben I'm Afra ding thanks for listening Yanks on bikes do those rough out her I'm just glad she never watches this oh you've been ragging on me all day I'm glad you're at least doling it out dishing out I would hate to be in the scenario of all of these YouTube vloggers though where it's basically like you're showing your entire relationship and then you break up like I don't tell any of my friends like if I'm in a scenario like that yeah to have to do that to like millions of viewers online all my so it's it one of the things that stood out to me in that story by the way was Jon quoted somebody saying you know with celebrities like regular celebrities the song is the content you or your movie is the content when you're a YouTube star you know why your life is the content which is like pretty I mean like it's just too transparent for me I guess like I wouldn't want to share that much of myself either it's a different kind of culture right like they these folks have grown up living on cameras so everything about everything much sharing just seems natural that includes sharing their new insert their love is right boyfriend no no boyfriend go for lot of times they don't think about the consequences of that until it happens right l they actually go into a breakup and it gets really messy and also I don't want to share as much but your fans are so use of that that they're expect I mean yeah it's the equivalent of like when you untag yourself or delete photos of you and you're like girlfriend on Facebook except it's like it sounds like videos and to millions of exactly yeah like for this stuff though it feels like it's like The Bachelor but it never ends like you just follow them to the round hole even up until divorce and you follow them after that anyway because yeah after the breakup that person makes their own channel then you know that person's fans will go to that channel and then you know they get all these comments I know you guys were meant to be together at the lake make em in your relationship think about it like the value of continuing to do that is probably huge like for the top tier folks that do this you make a lot of money doing it and just stepping away like this is this is for some of them it's their number one like this is the way that they make cash no they can't just give it up all of a sudden you can't all of a sudden create a new persona either I wonder if any of them have ever made like a like that's like staged a breakup issues yeah and that's a stage like getting back together no don't lose all the feel like celebrities do that all the time yeah these are people unlike YouTube so it's a little bit different because you know back to that original point like when celebrities do it their fans follow them for whatever the rules the movies they're they don't necessarily follow all the intimate details of their lives or try not to it's a little bit different for YouTube like if you're staging something like that I mean you're you're fully committed to like living this live full-time I guess so I don't know maybe maybe it happens not for me no like I'm not doing it like I wouldn't do this well I wouldn't do it to my so much for your promising career as a youtuber come on man yeah by the way this is art this is all happening as fans descend upon Anaheim California today actually starting today for VidCon which is a big con Fab Four for YouTube stars mmm so our questions tough questions a little like I just want to say I do not care about the YouTube drama I mean I'm a abotu watcher and I feel no pity for these people poor souls who decide to go in front of a camera right but and go on and on and on about mundane crap and then get gifted tons and tons of more crap and then oh my heart's been broken you know what I've noticed well anybody to know about it anymore they're so cold I've noticed why I left blank has gotten like really popular on YouTube lately specifically why I left BuzzFeed but I like theirs it's just been like everywhere so I think like heartbreak and people leaving things is like really popular on YouTube so if we can change the title of his video - why I left this room why I love number yeah why I love doober would be appropriate would be a very very long video but do I left the 359 because he's wasted too much time talking about idiotic youtubers yeah but do we have any question on uber or one plus we got a couple of comments Stas the video agent says what's the salary for uber I can probably fit it in as an interim CEO salary for salary for the CEO is CEO like Travis a couple bubbles certainly a billionaire right they do fine oh yeah but also he's you know he's a massive shareholder right yes well that's why is the founder right I mean like the next CEO that comes in probably isn't gonna get that much of a chunk of the company so they're gonna have less money but I'd like to see Arianna do it are they dividing the current CEO salary among the ten people right I don't believe so I believe it's just ten existing executives that are in this committee so which sounds more about anything - CEO executives should be all ten of their salaries combined then by that logic so what do you think the possibility is is that like this actually results in an IPO or ends up having like an IPO never happened because last week watch you're gonna have new leadership so our interest in maybe getting the company public might be different I mean if I was a CEO that would be my priority I'd clean up the image clean up the reputation and take this thing public get my payday get out yeah I mean like they might not end up with like the 70 billion dollar valuation by the way you're gonna call me just yeah I'm available well I mean at this point James in the chat says the next step in the overstory is going to be the board voting him out since he stopped getting rid of them on the board yeah I think that's a little bit tougher because of his Cheryl exactly that it's not a yeah yeah um but he's not wrong I mean this guy is just getting buried and I got the person I don't feel sorry for yeah his name is completely toxic yeah which is why I found it like what what happened to the clean break like how was he actually able to hold on to his board seat for God's sake he's like because of his position I know but like that's what I was thinking with like the fact that he was able to hold on to the sea spot for as long as he has to write so he's still clawing on to some level of control in the company and it's possible Brian as you said that doesn't hold on to the board see it either I mean it's an I'm sure there are a number of involve parties interested in pursuing that Rupa like you said it's not that easy yeah I mean they can oust him as CEO and he basically has to comply out of his own ego right I guess more than anything else but yeah getting voted out the boards when were complicated mm-hmm yeah a comment from Jake Lou he says drivers make so very little hoping that the result of this is the rates actually become better since 40 hours only gets about 600 bucks in the LA area oh that's awful well also Elway I think there's probably tougher demand right like people have cars out there true and if you're if you don't have a car either wonderful 900 books isn't Allah say you don't have a car in LA you can't afford a car you can't afford uber you're probably taking a bus so there's well like $600 a week for 40 hours like you're probably spending more on gas yeah yeah yeah that's that's awful and I do feel that's that's definitely one of the things that they should remedy don't get me wrong uber has like a long list of issues and it doesn't end with like Travis leaving right um definitely pay I mean look they've just introduced the tipping feature which is definitely nice Drive yes it's a good nice step for drivers and this could be that idea could absolutely be another one if they're trying to keep drivers from in Exodus as well trying to at least maintain the pricing and not continuously lower it is is certainly a smart move I would think to just but help state the fact like it's embarrassing that it even took this long for them to introduce tipping on this and I feel like we're grading them on a completely different scale here where it's like see look they're like good drivers that you introduced tipping the concept that's existed for ever you know years a great point it's true I mean like that and and that's just probably the one of the least controversial controversies that they've had to deal with yeah yeah like this whole thoughts because we're yeah we're on a curve we're like we're talking about sexual harassment and telling people do not throw kegs off balconies like tipping seems like very kind of safe issue right we were joking around about like the lift reinventing the bus and like that was so milquetoast compared to all the stuff coming out of mover that was just kind of funny another contribution from aldo says uber and Miami gets 40 hours gets you around 550 and that doesn't include tolls or gas oh yeah Miami yeah I do that that's really that's oh I would like to ask Aldo why do that I mean like that does not sound like it's a you know recipe for success for a driving are there additional perks do you get tipped on the side regardless of how no no I don't know said host to well I don't know yeah I don't know anyone who's ever like pulled out they're all about money to give yeah yeah I remember it's like yeah it's all completely seamless so that's a different company you're right yeah well Stas here contributes a is $600 and 40 hours after the cost of business and why do we need to why we need the app to tell people the tip I tip them cash every time see right there all right I'll try to steer I've never done that maybe I'm just a terrible person my interest I do it all the time I usually give him a hundred shut up shoot depending on the distance well Stas is now reinvigorated my love of humanity yeah maybe we're all gonna be okay after all no or not we're all screwed nope all right let's switch gears back to YouTube real quick before we gotta wrap it up for the day sure uh Matthew dacher hey Matthew Matt Matt speaking at YouTube was there any discussion of advertisement gate we haven't really gone in the detail on that no story a bad one to follow in the future because it doesn't seem to be going anywhere definitely noticed I mean Essaouira was really focused more on sort of the personal lives of his youtubers were advertising gate is completely different issues yeah this this was a profile that's a story right right well that's that's like an issue such as a story it's it's an ongoing issue right yeah and I mean I'm a personal fan of a number of channels that have been affected by it so I'm kind of vaguely aware of it yeah at least as it's a complicated thing but yes it is Stu and it really seems like a mega shot in the foot for YouTube yeah that they they're just kind of like spring at the Y I think it's a shot in the foot for like youtubers I think for YouTube they're doing the like positioning themselves the best way to make the most money they can regardless of I don't know if I agree with that I think they're there they're trying to make it a lot more family having to go really that yeah but the the UH residuals out of that don't match up with how many of them they're wronging horrible yes misfire misfire that's a language I'm looking for I think it's like they're misunderstanding what like people go on YouTube for like that's not exactly a family-friendly platform what about being niche and they've already developed the YouTube kids app and everything well I I'm not against more family-friendly but I am against them attacking people who have been loyal contributors and defenders for a long time we're now calling the crossfire money talks yeah I really that's just that's it I mean like they they wanted to make a change because you know you need that ad money coming in that's how Google makes it like more than 90% of its cash yeah real quick before we do wrap it up we'll change directions one more time we talked briefly about how uber itself is largely automated and we got a question from outer vision power supply calculator great name column entire name last I know those are the question no high power supply calculator since since we thought about uber becoming increasingly automated as a service as a company how likely are self-driving cars becoming in the next two years and I would like to see that applied to two years two years yeah that is a little initially let's say five to ten I mean I don't ice to ride sharing apps I mean I think I think that's what all the ride-sharing apps will want in the ANU they kind of want to take out the human element and replace them all with self-driving cars right yeah I we were spending money today no one ever watch terminator and then you could you don't have to pay salaries are available 24/7 you can you can order an uber ride at 3:00 in the morning I don't ever complain about pay never complain about so yeah it's I mean in terms of automation yeah that's that's why these companies I mean they're they're doing the dance that they have to do in terms of like peeling the drivers now because they need drivers but eventually I mean all these companies even lift as you know as a lift is definitely doing rights too even though they framed themselves as sort of this positive alternative Ober ultimately all these guys once it once self-driving car technology is workable and usable they're gonna drop all these drivers which means those drivers essentially are helping fund their own demise I mean I'm already sure though that like the technologies developing along pretty well and if it was only the issue of the technology in the next two years that actually seems very no it's regulations yeah it's definitely it's the government and it's the issue of the human drivers there's so many like lobby groups basically saying let us keep our jobs kind of things and also why do we want these like machines on our roads there's like a lot of like red tape that they need to cut through for this that's the issue that's like why won't come in the next two years but technology's not the problem but it is I mean well draw it will come though that yes this does draw a question though what if uber replaced Travis with a robot robot I knew you're going down that road it'd still be a bro I know would you like a cake would you like a beer please eyebrow a robit' a Brobee robot robot okay robot that's where we are at the point of this spot yeah we had a really good question coming here at the 11th hour from Scott I kind of wonder how much trouble uber as a company is going to be in following us in fact do we think that they're going to improve their public image with the ousting of I mean I that's that's gonna be the priority for the yeah yeah is it change their their messaging and change the reputation so a bit of a sidebar that should ever be worried about the new ways car share feature sure yeah they should be worried about everything in addition right yeah now there's no focus on the whole on there's me but they're still folks who company the existence of the infrastructure of uber at it as it stands right now has not fallen apart people still use it regardless of like the hashtag delete uber effort so I but yeah they should definitely be worried about their competitors at this yeah but I don't think that uber goes away now it is as long as they can provide a price that's cheaper than its competition which it currently does because it rips off so many of the drivers um people are going to continue using it there's so many people that don't care about social issues or like bad behavior its troops and things like that where it gets to the bottom line of the you were saying earlier money talks and if I can save like $15 on my ride home on this app like a lot of people are going to be thinking basically well I don't care that the CEO is like terrible views yeah there there definitely plenty customers like that for sure all right that's we are way over time we gotta wrap it up for the day and you we should obviously we'll be continuing this discussion in the very very very near future oh yeah all right bring it on Roger all right if you liked anything you saw or heard here check us on CNET our podcast is also available on itunes tune in stitcher SoundCloud feedburner and google play music and CNET of course CNET thanks guys see y'all tomorrow we'll see y'all tomorrow thanks for watching you
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