The good news for Uber stakeholders is that the ride-sharing company has dropped a few names for potential CEOs, and Dara Khosrowshahi is one of them. Khosrowshahi is currently the chief executive officer of the travel company, Expedia Inc. He was a surprise choice for the position and, if he accepts the offer, will have his hands full with cleaning up the Uber’s mess. Khosrowshahi is a disciplined businessman with a good track record and many are happy to see him take the reins.
The search for a new Uber CEO has been going on for a while now. It may have ended on Sunday, August 27, 2017, as the man chosen to helm Uber is Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive officer of Expedia Inc. A spokeswoman for Uber said that though the board voted, a public announcement will be made once the offer is accepted, and all employees are told. The matter is being kept under wraps right now. The offer has not yet been accepted, but naturally, people are eager to know more about the man likely to be in the hot seat, and especially Dara Khosrowshahi’s net worth. Here are a few details from Dara Khosrowshahi’s wiki.
Escape from Iran
Born on May 28, 1969, in Tehran, Iran, Dara Khosrowshahi’s age is 48. He is a businessman who was chosen by Uber’s board of directors to be the new CEO of the company, a successor to the ousted CEO Travis Kalanick. Khosrowshahi’s family escaped from Iran in 1978 just before the Islamic Revolution. He was just nine years old at that time, and after coming to the United States, he studied hard and excelled in academics, receiving a B.A. in electrical engineering from Brown University in 1991.
A Successful Corporate Career
Khosrowshahi worked in Allen & Company from 1991 to 1998, where he rose to the rank of vice president. He is also a board of director for BET.com and Hotels.com, among others. His first job as CEO came in the form of IAC Travel, after which he became the CEO for Expedia in August 2005. Over the years, Khosrowshahi earned high praise for his management and leadership skills. The New York Times praised his “comprehensive digital and international experience, as well as significant financial expertise.” In 2013, Ernst & Young presented him with the Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year award. Khosrowshahi was also listed in the U.S. State Department’s “List of Prominent Iranian-Americans.” After working for Expedia for almost 12 years, Khosrowshahi finds himself in the unenviable position of changing a profitable but disorganized Uber to a successful and professional corporation.
Responsibilities Galore
Khosrowshahi was a surprise choice for the post, succeeding over other candidates like Jeff Immelt, chairman of General Electric; and Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Both have declined the offer.
Naturally, expectations are high, and Khosrowshahi has to deal with urgent and important issues like mending Uber’s image, repairing broken relationships with investors, rebuilding employee morale, and ensuring that the company makes profits after seven straight years of losses. Uber has been under a cloud of allegations of sexual harassment, executive mishandling of medical records, a lawsuit over trade secrets theft, and a federal criminal investigation into the use of software to evade city regulators, among others.
The Corporate World is Watching
Dara Khosrowshahi’s salary with Expedia is an estimated $1.0 million, excluding bonuses and stocks. There is no information about his potential salary as the new Uber CEO. Dara Khosrowshahi’s net worth is $20.0 million and sure to rise if he accepts the offer. All this wealth will be shared with Dara Khosrowshahi’s wife, Sidney Shapiro, who has supported him throughout the years. He may now have to steer the embattled Uber from its current messy situation and reinvent it as a responsible, professional, and profitable company. Khosrowshahi has his hands full, and the corporate world expects him to set high standards for a company that has been floundering for some time.
