Who Is Dara Khosrowshahi? 5 Facts About Uber's New CEO

Uber on Sunday selected Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of an online travel platform Expedia Inc, as the company’s new CEO. Ending the company’s contentious search, Khosrowshahi was chosen by the board of directors at Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] following the board meetings over the weekend, according to two sources having the knowledge of the decision, reports said.

He would replace former CEO Travis Kalanick, who was forced to step down in June following a tiff with a shareholder.

Khosrowshahi, 48, an Iranian-born American businessman has been the CEO of Expedia since 2005 when the global online travel platform saw rapid expansion. He completed his graduation from Brown University, a private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, and he has previously worked at media and internet company InterActiveCorp (IAC), and investment bank Allen & Company.

Khosrowshahi was picked among three finalists after a weekend of board meetings, according to anonymous sources, the New York Times reported. Earlier on Sunday, the leading candidate, former General Electric (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt, announced on Twitter that he had "decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber," after it was made clear that he did not have enough support from the board, sources familiar with the decision-making process told the Washington Post.

In his Twitter post, Immelt added: "I have immense respect for the company & founders - Travis, Garrett and Ryan" (the first names of Kalanick, Garrett Camp and Ryan Graves). The board had been quite supportive of another top contender Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, who also said earlier this month that she was not keen on taking the job. But speculations suggested she resurfaced as a leading contender after Immelt's withdrawal.

Khosrowshahi is respected in the Silicon Valley for handling the huge expansion of Expedia Inc. to over 60 countries, reports suggested. After he took over Expedia, he successfully battled recessions that hampered people's travel budgets and upstarts like Airbnb, which attempted to take away its business. Before working at Barry Diller's IAC, he worked in the banking industry.

He has been known for his outspoken criticism about President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, he condemned Trump’s travel ban that mainly barred travelers from Muslim majority countries from entering the country. "It is important to have safe borders, but at the same time, we can’t forget what brought us here. This is an immigrant nation," he told the Financial Times earlier this year. The Iranian-born businessman moved to the United States along with his family at the age of four as a refugee after the Iranian revolution.

Following his selection, sources familiar with the matter told the Washington Post he would help the struggling ride-share company in two important ways. Firstly, Khosrowshahi is considered to be low-key and "even-keeled" as compared to Uber's former CEO, who has had several instances where he was known to fly into fits of anger while handling a situation.

"My whole life, anytime I've faced a high-pressure decision, my model for mature behavior has been, 'what would Dara do'? He's one of the humblest and most even-keeled people I know," Ali Partovi, an entrepreneur, and technology investor, who is Khosrowshahi’s second cousin, told the Washington Post. The two were said to have attended primary school together in Iran.

Secondly, if Khosrowshahi accepts the offer, he would have his hands full. Since Uber has been embroiled in controversies for about a year, he would be responsible for transforming the company’s work culture and business. Several controversies about Uber made the headlines in the last eight months including sexual harassment and discrimination allegations against the ride-share giant that led to the resignation of the former CEO, according to Forbes.