Travis Kalanick Net Worth: Ousted Uber CEO Will Get $1.4 Billion From Deal

Ousted Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick will see his fortune grow on Thursday as Softbank completes its deal with the ride-hailing company, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.

It was reported late last month that Softbank agreed to purchase a stake in the company. Softbank’s deal valued Uber at about $48 billion, a 30 percent discount from the previous $69 billion valuation. The deal will make Softbank Uber’s largest shareholder.

Sources told CNBC that Kalanick, who was forced to resign in June last year, will reportedly receive $1.4 billion from the deal. Kalanick’s current estimated net worth is $4.74 billion, according to Bloomberg. The purchase will also provide large payouts to other early backers of the startup.

Travis Kalanick and Uber Scandals

Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009 and was seen as the world’s most valuable startup. However, Kalanick, 41, was ousted from Uber following numerous scandals. Fidelity, Benchmark and other major investors at the company wrote a letter to Kalanick last year demanding his resignation.

Kalanick’s fortune growth comes at a hard time for the company. Uber, which is now led by former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, has struggled with scandals that has tarnished the company’s image. The problems began early last year after the #deleteUber campaign during President Donald Trump’s introduction of his travel ban. After the bad publicity, Uber was hit by allegations of sexual harassment, which led to an internal probe by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The company was also hurt by its litigation with Alphabet unit Waymo over stolen self-driving information, as well as its “Greyball tool.” This month, another tactic used by the company surfaced. Uber reportedly developed a program that shut down computers remotely to evade law enforcement raids.

Besides those scandals, Kalanick was also at the center of a dashcam video that showed him arguing with an Uber driver.

“Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own sh**!” Kalanick is heard saying in the video. “They blame everything in their life on somebody else!”

A report on Thursday by Bloomberg provided details of how Kalanick reacted to the clip. He reportedly saw the video with two other executives.

The report described the scene at the time:

“As the clip ended, the three stood in stunned silence. Kalanick seemed to understand that his behavior required some form of contrition. According to a person who was there, he literally got down on his hands and knees and began squirming on the floor. ‘This is bad,’ he muttered. ‘I’m terrible.’”

Kalanick was also criticized when he decided to join Trump’s business advisory council. He was also attacked for defending former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, who is accused of stealing information from Waymo. Kalanick reportedly insisted that Uber stick by Levandowski, who he once described as a “brother from another mother,” adding that he would eventually be exonerated.