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Image: KUMAR A./AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Travis Kalanick—a vocal fighter against taxi lobbyists, government regulations, pink mustache businesses, and tech giant Google—is speaking out again.
Uber's former CEO filed a 15-page response to investor Benchmark Capital's lawsuit against him this week. The venture capital firm accused Kalanick of fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty in a lawsuit filed last week.
Among Kalanick's statement of facts is a note that his mother had been killed in a boating accident when Benchmark was planning to oust him as CEO.
"It executed its plan at the most shameful of times: immediately after Kalanick experienced a horrible personal tragedy," the 15-page document, first reported by Axios, reads.
Kalanick's filing also casts Benchmark as pressuring him into a resignation. For example, they "ambushed" him in his hotel room.
"On June 20, 2017, not more than a week after having expressed 'support' for Kalanick as CEO, and a week and a half after his mother's funeral, Benchmark sent its principals Peter Fenton and Matt Cohler to Kalanick's hotel room in Chicago with a demand that he immediately resign as CEO. They threatened to launch a public campaign against him if he refused," the filing reads.
Benchmark's lawsuit includes taking away the three board seats that Kalanick controls, which the firm believes Kalanick does not deserve. Kalanick was ousted as CEO in June, shortly after taking a leave of absence.
All this drama happened right after his company acquired Otto. Uber made its founder, Anthony Levandowski, formerly of Google, head of self-driving. But now Levandowski and Kalanick are in the middle of a lawsuit with Google's Waymo, which claims that Levandowski stole intellectual property from his former employer.
As to Benchmark wanting to take away his power, Kalanick argues that it's not reasonable on multiple counts. For one, Kalanick says that his agreement to resign was not co-signed.
And that's your daily dose of Uber drama.
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