Uber has lost another top executive, this time spurred over the decision by Transport for London (TfL) to not renew the raid-hailing firm’s license to operate in the capital.
Jo Bertram, Uber’s regional general manager for Northern Europe, sent an email around to her employees, reported Reuters, which announced that she would be leaving the company in a few weeks time after overseeing a smooth transition to someone who will take over her duties.
Bertham, who is based in London, did not directly say that the decision to leave was based on Uber not having its London license renewed, but she appears to have hinted at it by noting the hurdles the company has to overcome.
“Given some of our current challenges, I’m also convinced that now is the right time to have a change of face, and to hand over to someone who will be here for the long haul and take us into the next phase,” she wrote in the email.
“While I would like to have announced my move in smoother circumstances, I’m proud of the team we’ve built here and am very confident in their abilities to lead the business into the next chapter.”
Uber’s current global chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi is set to meet the TfL to try and address the accusation that Uber is not “fit and proper” to operate a transport service due the the way it treats its employees and other practises deemed irresponsible by the TfL.
The decision by Bertham to leave Uber follows the recent stepping-down of former chief executive Travis Kalanick, who was pressured to resign his post by Uber’s shareholders after it surfaced that he’d been involved in berating a driver and ignoring sexual harassment allegations aimed at Uber.
While Kalanick is still on Uber’s board, despite moves to try and remove him, he has no longer holds the top position at Uber and the loss of Bertham as another top executive, shows Uber is going through a bit of a rocky patch at the moment.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
