Uber CEO quits but is it enough? (The 3:59, Ep. 244)
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
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guys see y'all tomorrow we'll see y'all
tomorrow
thanks for watching
you
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