Benchmark’s suit against Travis Kalanick is now over

Benchmark’s controversial, explosive lawsuit against Travis Kalanick is officially history.

A judge on Thursday permanently dismissed the venture firm’s case against the former Uber CEO following Benchmark’s agreement to dismiss the suit. That ends a messy legal entanglement that was a leading part of Benchmark’s attempt over the last six months to marginalize Kalanick. It was Benchmark that led his ouster from the CEO chair at Uber.

Benchmark had signaled that it planned to drop the suit once Uber enacted a series of governance reforms that disempowered both Kalanick and Benchmark. Those changes took effect on Jan. 18 — the same day that Benchmark first moved to dismiss its suit, according to the filing.

“It is hereby stipulated and agreed, by and among Benchmark, Kalanick and Uber, through their undersigned counsel,” wrote Delaware Court of Chancery Judge Sam Glasscock III in his order, “that this Action and the claims asserted therein are dismissed with prejudice, and that each party shall bear its or his own costs, fees and expenses.”

Kalanick succeeded last summer in having the Delaware case sent to arbitration, but then the arbitration process crawled extremely slowly. The governance changes allowed both sides to less litigiously clear the plate for Kalanick’s successor.

Still, one has to ask: Would those governance changes have happened if Benchmark hadn’t sued in the first place?

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via