DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Uber’s Diversity Chief Put on Leave After Complaints of Insensitivity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Kellen Browning | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The term Karen has become slang for a white woman with a sense of entitlement who often complains to a manager and reports Black people and other racial minorities to the authorities. A prominent “Karen” incident occurred in 2020, when Amy Cooper, a white woman, called 911 after a Black man bird-watching in New York’s Central Park asked her to leash her dog. Mr. Khosrowshahi’s efforts included increased diversity initiatives under Ms. Lee, who has led the effort since 2018. “I can confirm that Bo is currently on a leave of absence,” Noah Edwardsen, an Uber spokesman, said in a statement. Ms. Lee did not respond to a request for comment.

☆ A former Googler who sued for pregnancy discrimination says tech giants should be held accountable, especially as pregnant workers get laid off
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Former Googler Chelsey Glasson acknowledges that the recent tech downturn could stifle dissent from people who may face pregnancy discrimination. She's speaking about her experiences in a book she is publishing called "Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir." In addition, 1 in 5 mothers said they experienced pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. One change that could help the industry would be some means of making funding available for people suing over pregnancy discrimination, she added. "Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir" will be published on August 29.

☆ How Lyft’s new CEO is ‘copying’ his former boss Jeff Bezos to turn around the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Days after taking over as the new CEO of Lyft (LYFT) last month, Risher announced plans to “significantly reduce” the company’s workforce and stressed that the decision was his. The next week, Lyft (LYFT) revealed the extent of the layoffs: 26% of the staff, or more than 1,000 employees, would lose their jobs. It has lagged behind its chief rival, Uber (UBER), in recovering from the pandemic shock to business. And that really is Jeff Bezos,” Risher told CNN. “It’s not our focus to be part of somebody else’s company,” Risher said.

☆ Uber and Lyft drivers share 3 reasons why the ride-hailing giants, not customers, are partially responsible for the bad tips they get
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Drivers told Insider riders should tip and that Uber was partly to blame for low tips. Insider spoke with several ride-hailing and delivery drivers, each of whom pushed back on many of the arguments made by the commenters on the Times story. Chris, a 28-year-old Uber Eats driver in upstate New York, said: "Uber has successfully convinced customers that drivers get paid way more than we do." In-app tipping wasn't even an option for Uber riders until 2017, roughly five years after Lyft rolled out the feature. He said he always tipped at least 20% whenever he took an Uber, Lyft, or cab.

☆ Uber drivers lay out 4 reasons they think tipping has been getting worse — and why events like Taylor Swift concerts seem to make riders more generous
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Ben and other drivers have some theories about why riders aren't as generous as they used to be. Ben, a full-time Uber and Uber Eats driver for five years, said he'd worked as many as 90 hours in one week to make ends meet. Last year, Ben earned roughly $77,000 pretax driving for Uber and Uber Eats. Sergio AvedianUltimately, Avedian said Uber riders' tipping habits today could be traced to the company's decisions several years ago. In-app tipping wasn't even an option for Uber riders until 2017, despite drivers pushing for it for years.

☆ How Uber left Lyft in the dust
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In the process, Lyft cultivated a feel-good brand – but Uber dominated the market. “As a member of the board, he knows both the challenges and opportunities ahead.”For Lyft, the current challenges are immense. While Uber diversified its business beyond ride-hailing by delivering meals and grocery items, Lyft never did. David Risher, Lyft's new CEO, flanked by Lyft's co-founders, Logan Green (left) and John Zimmer (right). Davidson, wrote in a note this week that the new CEO “could signal an increased willingness to broaden the strategic aperture at LYFT a bit as it relates to areas like product strategy (delivery), partnerships, or other novel ways to create value.”Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (left); current Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (right).

☆ No, 'Stranger Things' star Noah Schnapp didn't open his own restaurant. It's the latest 'virtual brand' offering from IHOP.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Thousands of virtual brands continue to flood delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. IHOP is launching a third delivery-only brand – a chicken menu by a "Stranger Things" star. Partnering with Noah Schnapp and Nextbite were a seamless fit to meet the consumer target for our newest Virtual Brand." Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp helped create a virtual chicken menu for IHOP. Nextbite's other celebrity-backed virtual brands include Packed Bowls by Wiz Khalifa and 'Wichcraft sandwiches by Tom Colicchio.

☆ The ChatGPT and generative AI 'gold rush' has founders flocking to San Francisco's 'Cerebral Valley'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Because of pandemic-era closings, San Francisco became somewhat of a ghost town for two years. Now, a race to succeed in the fledgling space of generative AI has founders flocking back. Generative AI takes training data — for instance, a vast corpus of written text — and teaches itself how to produce completely new, unique works. After giving New York a try for several weeks, the generative AI boom picked up. Thomas Maxwell/InsiderPerez said that the sense of urgency to get working on building better AI models comes from how generative AI improves with more data.

☆ Uber’s CEO almost said no to the job—then Spotify’s CEO convinced him to take it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

When Uber first approached now-CEO Dara Khosrowshahi about leading the company, he ignored the call. It was 2017, and the rideshare app was going through a "historically difficult time," Khosrowshahi told LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in a recent interview. He was entering his twelfth year as Expedia's CEO, and still "having a great time," he told Roslansky. He was prepared to call Uber's board of directors and take himself out of the running for CEO — until one conversation with a friend changed his mind. The following morning, Khosrowshahi called the head hunter back — and in August 2017, he was announced as Uber's new CEO, after a unanimous vote from the board.

☆ This is the No. 1 career mistake young people make 'all the time,' says Uber's CEO—how to avoid it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

While some people might argue that the secret to success lies in creating a detailed, linear path to your ultimate career goal, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says over-planning isn't just ineffective — it can torpedo your chances of building a fulfilling career. "Don't over-plan your career … I see young people make this mistake all the time," Khosrowshahi told LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in a new interview published Thursday. "I've never been in a hurry in my career, because if you're open, and you really want to hone your craft, it's so much more satisfying [to take your time]." "People talk about financial compounding — there's a career compounding that's magical. Here's how to pick them and stick to themSign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter

☆ Worried about the economy? These 5 successful companies were started during the Great Recession
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Multiple high-profile startups that did just that after launching during the Great Recession, which ran from late-2007 to the summer of 2009. It's proof that even tough times aren't enough to prevent every great idea from growing into a flourishing business — especially if your idea can save other people money during tough times. Today, Groupon has more than 20 million active customers — a lot, but less than half of its 54 million customers in 2014. The app currently has more than 90 million users. In 2018, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told CNBC that he's seen Venmo help people who grew up during the Great Recession become more thoughtful about taking care of their money.

☆ How to Spot a Ghost Restaurant on DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Thousands of virtual brands are flooding delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. According to a joint report by Grubhub and the market-research firm Technomic, 41% of independent restaurants are operating virtual restaurants. Uber Eats and GrubhubUber Eats and Grubhub do not label virtual brands. Our perspective is that a virtual restaurant is a real restaurant," Uber Eats told Insider. The Miami address for the virtual brand Sam's Crispy Chicken is listed as "MIA07-2" on the Uber Eats app.

☆ The VC dream machine pumped out one dumb startup after another. 2023 should put an end to that.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

2023 should curtail the current flow of bad startup ideas. The way it roughly works is to bet millions across lots of startups in the hope one of them blows up and returns that cash. 'Fewer insane ideas'We are no longer in a low-interest-rate market, meaning startup investors who could once rely on generous backers will have to be more cautious about how they spend their money. They do have lots of money, with an estimated $290 billion of capital available to them in October, according to Pitchbook data. But Kniaz senses a shift in motion: "This next year will show which emperor has clothes on or not.

☆ Harvard-educated deception expert: 4 red flags can show when people like Sam Bankman-Fried are lying
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The answer is the latter, says Pamela Meyer , a Harvard-educated deception expert who is a certified fraud examiner and the author of the 2010 book "Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception." Now, with Sam Bankman-Fried arrested on Monday by Bahamian authorities, the world is wondering if the FTX founder will follow in Holmes' footsteps as the next disgraced startup founder to end up behind bars . Such tactics should have been "a red flag, for sure, that he was deflecting a deep dive into the details" of FTX, Meyer says. You let them talk and talk and talk." This appears to be Bankman-Fried's current mode, Meyer says.

☆ Burger King's owner just opened a delivery-focused food hall where customers can order from Popeyes, Firehouse Subs, and other chains. The company is one of many expanding the ghost kitchen model to r
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Burger King's owner recently opened its first ghost kitchen, or digital food hall, in Miami. And recently, the parent of Burger King, Restaurant Brands International, opened its first ghost kitchen in Miami. Wonder is part ghost kitchen, part food delivery van, part meal-kit provider. These ghost kitchens on wheels, outfitted with cooking equipment and chefs, can be hailed through an app. The company, which ended its partnership with Miami-based Reef Technology this year, is not labeling the facility as a ghost kitchen.

☆ Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens startup is cutting jobs as a pandemic-era surge in food ordering subsides
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Nancy Luna | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CloudKitchens, the richly valued startup founded by former Uber chief Travis Kalanick, is cutting jobs as a pandemic-era boom in online food ordering subsides and a recession looms. The ghost kitchen operator has shed corporate recruiting employees, a move made to get closer to profitability, according to a person close to the matter. On November 1, employees on the recruiting team were asked to attend an impromptu Zoom meeting, described as a "global update." Tunna said Kalanick's goal is for CloudKitchens to be profitable next year, and with that, the startup has to make some changes, according to the witness. CloudKitchens raised about $850 million last fall from backers, including Microsoft, in a round that valued the startup at $15 billion.

☆ Elon Musk and Donald Trump now own rival social networks. Here's a timeline of their rocky relationship.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Former President Donald Trump said he's "very happy" that Elon Musk now owns Twitter. January 2020: 'One of our great geniuses'Former President Donald Trump speaks during a "Save America" rally in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 9, 2022. May 2020: Trump backs up Musk in feud with California covid rulesElon Musk meets Donald Trump at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 30, 2020. May 2022: Musk said he would reinstate Trump's Twitter accountTesla CEO Elon Musk. July 2022: Trump lashes outFormer President Donald Trump gives the keynote address at the Faith and Freedom Coalition during their annual conference on June 17, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee.

☆ It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to step down
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Mark Zuckerberg should quit. He should step down from his position as CEO of Meta and let someone else manage Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Zuckerberg was so excited about legs that he jumped for joy as he talked about them. Zuckerberg already has two very profitable platforms — Facebook and Instagram — but their popularity is declining. Internally, employees told the Times, Meta workers refer to metaverse projects as MMH, or "Make Mark Happy,'' projects.

☆ Burger King's owner opened its first ghost kitchen in Miami. Meet 7 innovative ghost-kitchen startups expanding the multibillion-dollar segment beyond the models developed by CloudKitchens and Reef Te
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-27 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Burger King's owner recently opened its first ghost kitchen, or digital food hall, in Miami. Meet 7 nontraditional ghost kitchen startups. And, recently, the parent of Burger King, Restaurant Brands International, opened its first ghost kitchen in Miami. These ghost kitchens on wheels, outfitted with cooking equipment and chefs, can be hailed through an app. The company, which ended its partnership with Miami-based Reef Technology this year, is not labeling the facility as a ghost kitchen.

☆ Andy Jassy officially starts as Amazon CEO today. Insiders describe his 'CHOP' meetings, micromanagement, and 'Nice' emails.
▼ + stars: | 2021-07-05 | by ( Eugene Kim | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

On July 5, Andy Jassy officially became Amazon CEO, succeeding Jeff Bezos, who steps into the position of executive chairman. When Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy has a big decision to make, it usually comes at the Chop. "If you go to a Chop meeting with Andy, you better be ready," one former senior-level employee told Insider. Though he's one of the longest-serving executives at Amazon and a close confidant of CEO Jeff Bezos, Jassy still remains relatively little-known outside tech circles. Early on in the pandemic, Jassy told AWS employees that "the world is relying on Amazon," according to an email seen by Insider.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos, Jassy, Andy, —, Dan Ives, Bezos, It's, Jassy's, Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, Travis Kalanick, he's, Dave Matthews, Rothschild, Scott Chancellor, who's, let's, Jeff, Taimur Rashid, AWS's, Rashid, it's, Tim Bray, Bray, Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Chancellor, MARK RALSTON, He's, Trump, Donald Trump's, Jeff Wilke, it'll, didn't, Ashley Stewart, Eugene Kim Organizations: Amazon, Amazon Web, Seattle, Charterhouse, Wedbush Securities, Services, AWS, they're, Harvard, New York Times, Redis Labs, Amazon ., Getty, Lawmakers, Defense Department, Microsoft, Black, Google, Netflix, Black Employee Network, African, Lambda, Web Services Locations: Parma, Jassy, manila, Bezos, AFP, DynamoDB

Search resuls for: "Travis Kalanick"

20 mentions found