Super Pumped : The Battle for Uber (9780393652253)

by Isaac, Mike

  121Lacy tweeted: Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda), “it troubles me that Uber is so OK with lying,” Twitter, August 20, 2014, 7:01 p.m., https://twitter.com/sarahcuda/status/502228907068641280.

  121tone-deaf response: “Statement On New Year’s Eve Accident,” Uber (blog), https://web.archive.org/web/20140103020522/http://blog.uber.com/2014/01/01/statement-on-new-years-eve-accident/.

  122read the headline: Lacy, “The Horrific Trickle Down of Asshole Culture.

  122Kalanick’s obsession with China: Erik Gordon, “Uber’s Didi Deal Dispels Chinese ‘El Dorado’ Myth Once and For All,” The Conversation, http://theconversation.com/ubers-didi-deal-dispels-chinese-el-dorado-myth-once-and-for-all-63624.

  124Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business: American Bar, “Salle Yoo,” https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/science_technology/2016/salle_yoo.authcheckdam.pdf.

  126“no fear in Silicon Valley”: Mike Isaac, “Silicon Valley Investor Warns of Bubble at SXSW,” Bits (blog), New York Times, March 15, 2015, https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/silicon-valley-investor-says-the-end-is-near/.

  127Manhattan’s Flatiron District: Johana Bhuiyan, “Uber’s Travis Kalanick Takes ‘Charm Offensive’ To New York City,” BuzzFeedNews, November 14, 2014, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johanabhuiyan/ubers-travis-kalanick-takes-charm-offensive-to-new-york-city.

  128hard-hitting news organization: Mike Isaac, “50 Million New Reasons BuzzFeed Wants to Take Its Content Far Beyond Lists,” New York Times, August 10, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/technology/a-move-to-go-beyond-lists-for-content-at-buzzfeed.html.

  130“Uber’s dirt-diggers”: Ben Smith, “Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists,” BuzzFeedNews, November 17, 2014, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists.

  Chapter 14: CULTURE WARS

  132“the crazy ones”: http://www.thecrazyones.it/spot-en.html.

  132went into the technology sector: Natalie Kitroeff and Patrick Clark, “Silicon Valley May Want MBAs More Than Wall Street Does,” Bloomberg Businessweek, March 17, 2016, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-17/silicon-valley-mba-destination.

  132nearly a quarter of them: Gina Hall, “MBAs are Increasingly Finding a Home in Silicon Valley,” Silicon Valley Business Learning, March 18, 2016, https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/03/18/mbas-are-increasingly-finding-a-home-in-silicon.html.

  133“In a meritocracy”: Uber’s list of 14 values, obtained by author.

  134Mohrer tweeted: Winston Mohrer (@WinnTheDog), “#Shittybike #lyft,” Twitter, July 11, 2018, 7:21 a.m., https://twitter.com/WinnTheDog/status/1017005971107909633.

  135designed an algorithm: Caroline O’Donovan and Priya Anand, “How Uber’s Hard-Charging Corporate Culture Left Employees Drained,” BuzzFeedNews, July 17, 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/how-ubers-hard-charging-corporate-culture-left-employees#.wpdMljap9.

  135“This Safe Rides Fee supports”: “What Is the Safe Rides Fee?,” Uber, https://web.archive.org/web/20140420053019/http://support.uber.com/hc/en-us/articles/201950566.

  136“We live in Uber’s world now”: Bradley Voytek, “Rides of Glory,” Uber (blog), March 26, 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20141118192805/http:/blog.uber.com/ridesofglory.

  Chapter 15: EMPIRE BUILDING

  140Nearly one-third of that population: Joshua Lu and Anita Yiu, “The Asian Consumer: Chinese Millenials,” Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, September 8, 2015, http://xqdoc.imedao.com/14fcc41218a6163fed2098e2.pdf.

  140Nearly 97 percent of Chinese: Po Hou and Roger Chung, “2014 Deloitte State of the Media Democracy China Survey: New Media Explosion Ignited,” Deloitte, November 2014, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/cn/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/deloitte-cn-tmt-newmediaexplosionignited-en-041114.pdf.

  141nine of them were Chinese: Sally French, “China Has 9 of the World’s 20 Biggest Tech Companies,” Market Watch, May 31, 2018, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-has-9-of-the-worlds-20-biggest-tech-companies-2018-05-31.

  142“I get excited”: Jessica E. Lessin, “Zuckerberg and Kalanick in China: Two Approaches,” The Information, March 25, 2016, https://www.theinformation.com/articles/zuckerberg-and-kalanick-in-china-two-approaches.

  143When press started sniffing: Amir Efrati, “Inside Uber’s Mission Impossible in China,” The Information, January 11, 2016, https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-ubers-mission-impossible-in-china.

  143“This kind of growth”: Travis Kalanick, “Uber-successful in China,” http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/b11657c0-1079-11e5-b4dc-00144feabdc0.pdf.

  144sailing out amid the rough waters: Octavio Blanco, “How this Vietnamese Refugee Became Uber’s CTO,” CNN Money, August 12, 2016, https://money.cnn.com/2016/08/12/news/economy/thuan-pham-refugee-uber/index.html.

  145They developed their own codified language: Leslie Hook, “Uber’s Battle for China,” Financial Times Weekend Magazine, June 2016, https://ig.ft.com/sites/uber-in-china/.

  149An angry mob of drivers: Sanjay Rawat, “Hyderabad Uber Driver Suicide Adds Fuel to Protests for Better Pay,” Outlook, February 13, 2017, https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/hyderabad-uber-driver-suicide-adds-fuel-to-protests-for-better-pay/297923.

  150pending an investigation: Ellen Barry and Suhasini Raj, “Uber Banned in India’s Capital After Rape Accusation,” New York Times, December 8, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/world/asia/new-delhi-bans-uber-after-driver-is-accused-of-rape.html.

  Chapter 16: THE APPLE PROBLEM

  156BuzzFeed ran its story: Ben Smith, “Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt on Journalists,” BuzzFeedNews, November 17, 2014, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists.

  156an enterprising young hacker: Average Joe, “What the Hell Uber? Uncool Bro.,” Gironsec (blog), November 25, 2014, https://www.gironsec.com/blog/2014/11/what-the-hell-uber-uncool-bro/.

  156it landed on Hacker News: “Permissions Asked for by Uber Android App,” Y Combinator, November 25, 2014, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8660336.

  Chapter 17: “THE BEST DEFENSE . . .”

  165Kalanick also held court over “Hell”: Amir Efrati, “Uber’s Top Secret ‘Hell’ Program Exploited Lyft’s Vulnerability,” The Information, April 12, 2017, https://www.theinformation.com/articles/ubers-top-secret-hell-program-exploited-lyfts-vulnerability.

  166Those programs fell under: Kate Conger, “Uber’s Massive Scraping Program Collected Data About Competitors Around The World.” Gizmodo. December 12, 2017, https://gizmodo.com/ubers-massive-scraping-program-collected-data-about-com-1820887947/.

  167more than 50,000 Uber drivers: Colleen Taylor, “Uber Database Breach Exposed Information of 50,000 Drivers, Company Confirms.” TechCrunch. February 27, 2015, https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/27/uber-database-breach-exposed-information-of-50000-drivers-company-confirms/

  168“rebelled” against his hippie parents: Kashmir Hill, “Facebook’s Top Cop: Joe Sullivan,” Forbes, February 22, 2012, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/22/facebooks-top-cop-joe-sullivan/.

  171“A lot of companies stop”: Hill, “Facebook’s Top Cop: Joe Sullivan.”

  173“We are not going to leave them alone”: Emilio Fernández, “En Edomex Cazan al Servicio Privado,” El Universal, May 28, 2015, http://archivo.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad-metropoli/2015/impreso/en-edomex-cazan-al-servicio-privado-132301.html.

  174After stabbing Modolo repeatedly: Stephen Eisenhammer and Brad Haynes, “Murders, Robberies of Drivers in Brazil Force Uber to Rethink Cash Strategy,” Reuters, February 14, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/uber-tech-brazil-repeat-insight-pix-tv-g-idUSL1N1FZ03V.

  Chapter 18: CLASH OF THE SELF-DRIVING CARSr />
  176“The reason I’m excited”: James Temple, “Brin’s Best Bits from the Code Conference (Video),” Recode, May 28, 2014, https://www.recode.net/2014/5/28/11627304/brins-best-bits-from-the-code-conference-video.

  178“We get stuff like this”: Biz Carson, “New Emails Show How Mistrust and Suspicions Blew Up the Relationship Between Uber’s Travis Kalanick and Google’s Larry Page,” Business Insider, July 6, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/emails-uber-wanted-to-partner-with-google-on-self-driving-cars-2017-7.

  181Trucking was an enormous industry: American Trucking Associations, “News and Information Reports, Industry Data,” https://www.trucking.org/News_and_Information_Reports_Industry_Data.aspx.

  181Trucks drive 5.6 percent: National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, “USDOT Releases 2016 Fatal Traffic Crash Data,” https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/usdot-releases-2016-fatal-traffic-crash-data.

  182“I want to be in the driver seat”: Duhigg, “Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property?”

  182autonomous vehicle engineering specialists: John Markoff, “Want to Buy a Self-Driving Car? Big-Rig Trucks May Come First,” New York Times, May 17, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/technology/want-to-buy-a-self-driving-car-trucks-may-come-first.html.

  182Levandowski ignored them: Mark Harris, “How Otto Defied Nevada and Scored a $60 Million Payout from Uber,” Wired, November 28, 2016, https://www.wired.com/2016/11/how-otto-defied-nevada-and-scored-a-680-million-payout-from-uber/#.67khcq4w5.

  183“Safety Third”: Chafkin and Bergen, “Fury Road.”

  183“brother from another mother”: Chafkin and Bergen, “Fury Road.”

  184“Super Duper” version of Uber: From Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, 3:17-cv-00939-WHA, and Paayal Zaveri and Jillian D’Onfro, “Travis Kalanick Takes the Stand to Explain Why Uber Wanted to Poach Google Self-Driving Engineer,” CNBC, February 6, 2018, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/travis-kalanick-reveals-why-he-wanted-googles-anthony-levandowski.html.

  184an entire center in Pittsburgh: Mike Isaac, “Uber to Open Center for Research on Self-Driving Cars,” Bits (blog), New York Times, February 2, 2015, https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/uber-to-open-center-for-research-on-self-driving-cars/.

  185“a pound of flesh”: Zaveri and D’Onfro, “Travis Kalanick Takes the Stand.”

  185“The golden time is over”: Alyssa Newcomb, “Former Uber CEO Steals the Show with ‘Bro-cabulary’ In Trade Secrets Trial,” NBC News, February 7, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/former-uber-ceo-steals-show-court-trade-secrets-bro-cabulary-n845541.

  Chapter 19: SMOOTH SAILING

  187the public investment arm of Saudi Arabia: Mike Isaac and Michael J. de la Merced, “Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5 Billion Cash Infusion,” New York Times, June 1, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/technology/uber-investment-saudi-arabia.html.

  187Kalanick directed his dealmaking stewards: Eric Newcomer, “The Inside Story of How Uber Got into Business with the Saudi Arabian Government,” Bloomberg, November 3, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-03/the-inside-story-of-how-uber-got-into-business-with-the-saudi-arabian-government.

  189The Art of War had been his bible: Sun Tzu’s Art of War, “6. Weak Points and Strong,” no. 30, https://suntzusaid.com/book/6/30.

  191Graves was pushed aside: Greg Bensinger and Khadeeja Safdar, “Uber Hires Target Executive as President,” Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-hires-target-executive-as-president-1472578656.

  191“What are you going to do”: Ryan Felton, “Uber Drivers Ask ‘Where Are the Answers?’ In Shitshow Q&A,” Jalopnik, February 16, 2017, https://jalopnik.com/uber-drivers-ask-where-are-the-answers-in-shitshow-q-a-1792461050.

  191“You made it crystal clear”: Felton, “Uber Drivers Ask ‘Where Are the Answers?’ ”

  193“he was holding the pony’s leash”: Emily Chang, “Uber Investor Shervin Pishevar Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Multiple Women,” Bloomberg, November 30, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-01/uber-investor-shervin-pishevar-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-by-multiple-women.

  196“Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber”: Susan Fowler, “Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber,” Susan J. Fowler (blog), February 19, 2017, https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber.

  Chapter 20: THREE MONTHS PRIOR

  200Facebook embedded its own employees: Sheera Frenkel, “The Biggest Spender of Political Ads on Facebook? President Trump,” New York Times, July 17, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/technology/political-ads-facebook-trump.html.

  200“Facebook enabled a Trump victory”: Max Read, “Donald Trump Won Because of Facebook,” Intelligencer, November 9, 2016, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/11/donald-trump-won-because-of-facebook.html.

  200Even inside of Facebook: Mike Isaac, “Facebook, in Cross Hairs After Election, Is Said to Question Its Influence,” New York Times, November 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/technology/facebook-is-said-to-question-its-influence-in-election.html.

  200Trump had banked more: Nicholas Confessore and Karen Yourish, “$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Donald Trump,” New York Times, March 15, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html.

  201“a huge step backward”: Biz Carson, “ ‘I Do Not Accept Him As My Leader’—Uber CTO’s Explosive Anti-Trump Email Reveals Growing Internal Tensions,” Business Insider, January 24, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-cto-internal-email-donald-trump-deplorable-2017-1.

  202Uber’s $3.5-billion funding round: Isaac and de la Merced, “Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5 Billion Cash Infusion.”

  202Some of Uber’s institutional shareholders: Alex Barinka, Eric Newcomer, and Lulu Yilun Chen, “Uber Backers Said to Push for Didi Truce in Costly China War,” Bloomberg, July 20, 2016, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/uber-investors-said-to-push-for-didi-truce-in-costly-china-fight.

  202Uber conceded the fight: Paul Mozur and Mike Isaac, “Uber to Sell to Rival Didi Chuxing and Create New Business in China,” New York Times, August 1, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/business/dealbook/china-uber-didi-chuxing.html.

  202For investors, it was a win: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/uber-investors-said-to-push-for-didi-truce-in-costly-china-fight.

  203top tech CEOs were called: David Streitfeld, “ ‘I’m Here to Help,’ Trump Tells Tech Executives at Meeting,” New York Times, December 14, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/technology/trump-tech-summit.html?module=inline.

  Chapter 21: #DELETEUBER

  205“We don’t want them here”: Michael D. Shear and Helene Cooper, “Trump Bars Refugees and Citizens of 7 Muslim Countries,” New York Times, January 27, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/politics/trump-syrian-refugees.html.

  206he called for a complete restriction: Patrick Healy and Michael Barbaro, “Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims From Entering U.S.,” New York Times, December 7, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/07/donald-trump-calls-for-banning-muslims-from-entering-u-s/.

  206Thousands of lawyers arrived: Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Lawyers Mobilize at Nation’s Airports After Trump’s Order,” New York Times, January 29, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/us/lawyers-trump-muslim-ban-immigration.html.

  206“NO PICKUPS @ JFK Airport”: NY Taxi Workers (@NYTWA), “NO PICKUPS @ JFK Airport 6 PM to 7 PM today. Drivers stand in solidarity with thousands protesting inhumane & unconstitutional #MuslimBan.,” Twitter, January 28, 2017, 5:01 p.m., https://twitter.com/NYTWA/status/825463758709518337.

  207a half-delirious meditation: Dan O’Sullivan, “Vengeance Is Mine,” Jacobin, https://www.jacobinmag.com/
2016/11/donald-trump-election-hillary-clinton-election-night-inequality-republicans-trumpism/.

  208“eat shit and die”: Dan O’Sullivan (@Bro_Pair), “congrats to @Uber_NYC on breaking a strike to profit off of refugees being consigned to Hell. eat shit and die,” Twitter, January 28, 2017, 8:38 p.m., https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/825518408682860544.

  208“Don’t like @Uber’s exploitative anti-labor”: Dan O’Sullivan (@Bro_Pair), “#deleteuber,” Twitter, January 28, 2017, 9:25 p.m., https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/

  825530250952114177.

  209“You’re fascist colluding scabs”: The Goldar Standard @Trev0000r), “done,” Twitter, January 28, 2017, 10:50 p.m., https://twitter.com/Trev0000r/status/825551578824396800.

  209“Taking advantage of the taxi strike”: Simeon Benit (@simeonbenit), Twitter, January 28, 2017 11:04 p.m., https://twitter.com/simeonbenit/status/825555284428988416.

  209“Catch a rideshare to hell”:_m_(@MM_schwartz), “@uber Hope I’m not too late to the party #deleteUber,” Twitter, January 28, 2017, 11:33 p.m., https://twitter.com/MM_schwartz/status/825562459088023552.

  210attempted a mealy-mouthed apology: Travis Kalanick, “Standing Up for What’s Right,” Uber Newsroom, https://www.uber.com/newsroom/standing-up-for-whats-right-3.

  210“many people internally and externally”: Travis Kalanick, “Standing Up for What’s Right.”

  211a well-executed PR stunt: Rhett Jones, “As #DeleteUber Trends, Lyft Pledges $1 Million to ACLU,” Gizmodo, January 29, 2017, https://gizmodo.com/as-deleteuber-trends-lyft-pledges-1-million-to-aclu-1791750060.

  211Two different engineers asked: Mike Isaac, “Uber C.E.O. to Leave Trump Advisory Council After Criticism,” New York Times, February 2, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/technology/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-trump-advisory-council.html?_r=1.