Uber’s Board Approves Changes to Reshape Company’s Power Balance
He said in a statement that the board “came together collaboratively” and that the company’s new governance framework “will serve Uber well.”
Specifically, Uber’s board agreed on Tuesday to remove the special voting power carried
by two categories of Uber stock, the Class B common shares and the preferred shares.
In a statement, Uber’s board said it had “voted unanimously to move forward with the proposed investment by SoftBank and with governance changes
that would strengthen its independence and ensure equality among all shareholders.”
The decisions mean that Uber, valued at nearly $70 billion
and closely watched by other start-ups, may have defused — at least temporarily — another fractious situation.
SAN FRANCISCO — Uber’s board of directors voted on Tuesday for governance changes
that will reshape the balance of power at the ride-hailing service, paving the way for a stock sale to the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and for the company to go public by 2019.
As a result, the clout of certain Uber shareholders — including, most significantly, its former chief executive, Travis Kalanick, who is a board member
— will be reduced, according to people briefed on the deliberations, who asked to remain anonymous because the conversations were confidential.
Several directors, including Ms. Burns and Mr. Khosrowshahi, the chief executive, who was in London trying to regain Uber’s right to operate in
that city, dialed in to the meeting, the people briefed on the conversations said.
