Kara Swisher: The next person I’m going to bring out — we have two more great interviews. I just want to say, I got this T-shirt, I do a podcast called “Recode Decode” and at the beginning of it, I ...
It’s an amazing experience to do a podcast because the fans are astonishing. I get stopped a lot by fans who love podcasts, I think it’s cause you’re in their ear and they think they know you, which they don’t. It’s really interesting.
So this, Peter came in here and his son spent two weekends making a T-shirt. At the beginning of the show I say, “I’m Kara Swisher, you may know me as” and I make a joke. A joke around things. And this kid spent, Aiden, made a T-shirt of all my “you may know me as.” And gave it to me, which is fantastic and slightly odd but fantastic and I love it, and I was realizing some of them I want to read because it has to do with this next speaker, but I had things like, “You may know me as the leading cause of heart attacks in Silicon Valley executives,” “You may know me as the nagging voice inside of Silicon Valley’s head where its conscience used to be,” “You may know me as the only person trying to keep Peter Thiel in New Zealand.” I’m still trying. And all kinds of stuff, they’re really, I’m really funny.
So anyway, “The person who never wants anyone to use the phrase ‘cuddle puddle,’” which was great. Remember that, “cuddle puddle”?
Anyway, so we just use them to do stuff, but one of the ones I have here is one, I have a lot of them about Uber, I have to say, I use it as a joke and a punchline all the time, and one of them is, “You may know me as a brilliant jerk but not the kind who works at Uber.”
So without further ado, I want to bring out someone who I’ve gotten ... C’mon, that’s funny.
It’s not always a joke. What’s gone on at Uber has been very serious and is a really interesting case for Silicon Valley and this is its new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. I’ve gotten to know him and I’ve really got a lot of admiration for him and we’re going to have a great talk about Uber and where it’s going.
So Dara, come out here.
Dara Khosrowshahi: Thank you.
Yeah. You’re slowly ruining my abilities to make fun of you.
I’m the dumb nice guy.
Yeah, the dumb nice guy.
Great.
That’s how I think of you. So let’s start talking about how you got there and Uber. At the Christmas party for Uber this year, you turned to all the reporters in the room and ... Tell them what you said.
I said, “Thank you for my job.”
Yeah you did, which was really lovely, we liked that. Because we’re egomaniacs.
So when you got your job you didn’t think — it was part of a really strange process having covered it and stuff like that — you didn’t think you got the job, correct?
No, it was one of the most bizarre processes out there and I was kind of the unknown third party.
Right.
Which I think you sort of figured out who the unknown third party was right?
Yes I did, I said it was a man who was not a white man, who was a person of ...
Am I, what do you think?
I don’t know what you are, in any case they were ...
I’m still figuring it out.
I know, but you’re Persian, it said it was not someone you’d think, they gave me all kinds of clues but I couldn’t figure it out but I had different parts of you and stuff like that. But I did figure you out.
Eventually, eventually.
Eventually. But you didn’t think you had the job?
No, it was, I mean, I was competing with these headliners, legends of business, Jeff Immelt, Meg Whitman, and I was just the guy in Seattle who was running Expedia in my own nest there. And you know, one of the advantages that I had was, I loved my job, I loved what I was doing at Expedia, and at first it was a bit of a lark and, “Mike, I’m happy where I am, I’m doing great.”
I actually talked with Daniel Ek, who was the next person that you have on here, I remember a conversation over drinks with Daniel and Daniel’s like, “Since when is life about being happy?” Like, “this about doing something great, this is an important company in our lives and you have to try this.”
And so when they called me again I’m like, “You know what, what the hell, let’s do this.” But I didn’t take it seriously at first, I didn’t sell myself to the company because I wasn’t interested in getting a job because I had a great job, I was interested in doing this if I was the right person for it.
So I wasn’t particularly politicking, and with all the board dynamics going on, I was just like, “Hey, this is me, I’ve got my strengths, I’ve got my weaknesses, if I’m the right person for this role I’m game,” and I thought there was a very small chance of my getting in. And the one person who all along who was like, “You’re going to get it, you’re going to get it,” is Syd, my wife. So she and I bet five bucks and she won.
Right, well good.
She should have bet more.
And you, when you got it, when you found out you got it ...
Arianna Huffington called me and I was shopping for groceries and she’s like — Arianna, I’m sorry — [Arianna voice] “Dara, I have good news and bad news.”
Let me do it, let me do I. [Arianna voice] “Dara, I have good news and bad news.”
”Good news and bad news,” yes. So there she is.
[Arianna voice] “Hello baby, how are you?”
Yeah, “How are you?” Usually I’m like the bad news first, so I’m like, “Give me the good news.” She said, “You have the job.” So I said, “What’s the bad news?” “It’s leaked already.” So it was ... and I think you reported it.
I reported it, yeah.
So it was a little awkward, I already had a job and I got this new job and we had to, I put our chairman Barry Diller, at the time the Expedia chairman, in a really difficult position and he handled it with aplomb and he was amazing and we are where we are now.
So let’s talk about where we are now. Let’s talk about the past. When thinking about this job, you had a company that was toxic, in a lot of ways, a very toxic atmosphere. You had ... Susan Fowler had set off ... How did you imagine you were going to fix that? You had a founder who was making trouble and continued to make trouble while you were there and we’ll talk about that. But how did you think about when you first came in?
So I split up ... I’m an engineer by training, and the way to take on complex problems is to split them into component parts. And for me, first off and super important, was the governance of the company. The governance of the company, you had Benchmark and Travis to some extent, really battling each other, and it was a battle over the control of the company. So you had people who were focused on control rather than success.
And so one focus for me was solve the governance so you don’t have players solving for control but just thinking about the success of the company, and I think we’ve gotten there now.
Second for me was management and culture. Augment the management team, bring in some of my own folks, Tony West, Barney Harford, looking for a CFO now. And also very quickly go after the culture of the company, restate what we think the norms and the culture of Uber should be. We brought that, we kind of crowdsourced that from the company itself, rather than it being kind of a top-down thing, and I think that’s starting to work.
And the one norm we talk about all the time is “do the right thing,” and if we start doing the right thing and if we start acting differently, eventually the world will notice — and we’re not going to be able to control when the world will notice. Eventually the world will notice because the truth comes out in everything, good or bad.
And then the third is looking — after culture and management — is thinking about the business strategically, setting us up for an IPO and really setting up the business so we can be profitable over the long term.
And completing the investments that you did.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
So let’s talk about the culture, and the toxic culture and Travis, what you had to do. He’s on the board, he’s a big shareholder.
You got there and I remember we had lunch and I was like, “He’s going to do something bad to you, let me just tell you that.” And you were like, “Oh Kara, don’t be so negative.” And I was like “I’m going to be, I’m right.” And so, one of the things ...
Is this the part where you say that you were right?
I told you so. No, but I think, did you understand, because I think you came, I was like “You’re an adult, you didn’t come from this culture.” Did you feel like ... how did you go into that? Because here is someone who is hard-driving, great success ...
Huge success.
But the methodology was flawed, deeply flawed.
Sure, listen, it’s ...
How did you think about dealing with that?
My focus is on making the company succeed. I don’t want to get into me versus someone else. If I’m completely pure about the success of the company and don’t think about politics, etc., the rest I believe will take care of itself. And it’s a little bit of an innocent outlook on life, but it’s worked for me.
Right. But initially he then kicked your shins with the board members.
So he did, but there were two great board members, you know, Ursula [Burns] and John [Thain] are great board members. I didn’t like how it happened, but instead of focusing on how it happened — and the fact is that Travis has the governmental right to bring on those two board members — instead of focusing on that, well, they’re actually two great board members.
So let me get to know them, and I’ve gotten to know them, and let me use them to help me to build a company that is successful but also is successful in the right way. And if I focus on that, the rest will take care of itself.
What is your relationship with him now? A founder relationship is important, obviously it’s highly valued in Silicon Valley, probably too valued in some ways.
Sometimes.
Sometimes.
Yeah, sometimes, sometimes not. Every situation is different.
I think that the founder relationship is complicated and also frankly the former CEO relationship is complicated. I’m a former CEO of Expedia, I’m still on the board, Mark Okerstrom has taken over from me. My job is to get the hell out of the way. And Mark has to make his mark on that company, Mark has to make his mark, which means he’s the new CEO, he’s going to do things differently, and in doing things differently definitionally, do things differently from my choices.
So I can’t get too personal or offended about that. And I think with Travis, early on I was like, “Listen, I’m going to need my space,” and he did respect that. And once we got rid of the control, the struggle for control, etc. My focus is on taking the company forward and now he’s kind of found his thing and he can be an entrepreneur and he can build something. So he’s a board member, and just as I informed the entire board, I inform him and we have constructive dialogues but also I am taking the company in a different direction and I think he respects that. And I think ultimately whether the direction is the right one or the wrong one will be ...
Do you consult with him a lot?
Not a lot, but it’s, I consult with him the way that I consult with the board. And it is a different direction that we’re going in, in terms of culture. The strategy for us is now broadened in terms of mobility, etc. I did bring in a big partner in SoftBank and I’m very happy about that.
So you know, do I consult with him? I consult with him just like I consult with the rest of the board.
Okay. Let’s talk about what you’ve been doing now, besides your delightful “I’m sorry” video, which is lovely.
Delightful, I like it.
Not really, I can’t stand all of them.
Yeah, thank you. Oh, I like it.
Not really. I can’t stand that.
Yeah, thank you. That’s what I ... yeah.
So, you know.
Was that irony? I’ve never of it. Yeah.
No, I just hate them. So, explain why you’re doing ... I see why you’re doing it.
Yeah.
You know.
Well, we’re doing it because it was very important, we thought, that our consumers and our target base know that this is a new Uber, and we’re turning over a new leaf. I’m really looking forward to get the heck off TV very, very quickly. But the fact is that we are a different kind of company, and our values are different. And the fact that people had a negative viewpoint of the Uber of two, three years ago was hurting our brand and hurting our business. We’ve gotta reverse that.
And so, we are putting money in marketing. It’s a message that I think is going to resonate, and we’re gonna transition into the product itself, and some of the steps that we’re taking on the product side on safety, etc., really fundamentally reimagining the product, and improving our product in a way that I think is pretty responsible.
So, let’s talk about that product.
Yeah.
Let’s talk about the core product. You have two products, obviously, the customers and the drivers. Your driver issues still continue to be something you have to deal with. Talk about that because ...
Long term, sure. Yeah.
Yeah. So, talk about that issue, because last time when Travis was here on the stage and started mentioning, when I asked about self-driving, he actually told the truth. He’s like, “The problem with the Uber business model is the guy sitting in the front seat. We gotta get rid of him, and then it’s all gravy for us.” Like, “Once we get rid of him, it’s a great business.” I was like, “Thank you, God, for saying that.”
So, this is something I fundamentally disagree with.
Yeah, okay. All right.
The face of Uber is the person sitting in the front seat. Mostly guys. I actually would like to have more women sitting in the front seat as well because it’s a great form of employment. You can be your own boss and you don’t need to work full-time. That is the face of Uber. ... You can get in and get out. But ultimately, the time that you spend with our service is really the time that you spend with our driver partners.
So, we have launched ... Actually, one of the first product moves that we made is launching a new driver app. It was built in concert with the drivers. We actually consulted them. They were involved in building out the app. We’re introducing a lot of features that ...
Now, there’s still a lot of disgruntlement. They don’t feel like they’re paid enough, that they’re getting ... I get email every day from lots of drivers.
We have three million driver partners around the world, and there are some that are disgruntled. All of them, I think, wanna make more money, but fundamentally, they get to be their own bosses, and they get to work on their own terms. In general, I think driver earnings are going up, and we have an increased time and distance in certain places. And we’ve ...
What’s the challenge, then, with them if they feel the push below the system not giving them what they need? They obviously don’t have benefits and other things that ...
Well listen, in Europe, we rolled out an insurance feature, where the driver partners actually do get benefits. If they have accidents, they have insurance. They get maternity, paternity benefits, etc. So we have to build a great service, and I think one of the fundamental growth blockers that we have are, are we going to be able to have enough ...
Enough drivers.
... driver partners in recruiting, enough driver partners long-term. So one is, we’re working on a product very, very actively. Two is, we are going to work on earnings, and maximizing earnings as long as it doesn’t fundamentally hurt the price of the product, and that’s tough.
So for example, Pool is a product, and we’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Pool in order to get two people into a car. Those two people can pay a much, much lower rate, and the driver doesn’t have to take the brunt of that. And then, we are also looking at benefits. There’s this ... as you think about the gig economy and independent workers, etc., independent workers, they’re a second-class citizen that all of a sudden doesn’t get access to benefits, health care, etc., just because they’ve chosen to work for themselves versus outsource their career to a company. I think when you think about the future of work, work is gonna be much less about a company than it is going to be about the work itself.
And so, part of what I wanna do — we wanna do it at Uber — is to think about the independent workers not being a second-class citizen. Can we economically build our benefits packages and insurance so that this can be a safer way of living, while at the same time being your own boss?
Is the competition for drivers starting to get rougher? We’ve talked about this a number of times.
Rougher? Listen, I think that the competition for drivers is a bigger competition within the economic context because the economy is getting better, and as you know, unemployment rate is at an all-time low. We have to compete against the economy for drivers. It’s not necessarily us versus Lyft, etc. It’s our sourcing just more drivers to come onto the platform, and we have to make it more attractive because their alternatives are becoming more attractive.
So, still talking about the core business, I noticed just in San Francisco, prices going up quite a bit, like everywhere.
Yeah, yeah.
Talk about it because now I’m like, “Eh, I think I’ll just walk.” It’s not quite as like, “Wow, it’s just five ...”
Take a bike.
No, I’m not taking one of those scooters or anything.
Those things are ... Not scooters, E-bikes. They’re ...
I’m not taking any of those things.
They’re awesome. So, I do think time and distance has come up.
Right. Which one did you just buy? You bought one of those bike things.
We bought Jump.
Jump, right. Yes.
Which are E-bikes.
Yeah.
A very, very important push for us is to innovate to lower costs. In other words, not just take the rates down in order to lower costs, but actually use innovation to lower the cost of getting from point A to B. Examples of that are Pool, again. We have launched a new product which is called Express Pool, where ...
You meet at a certain point.
You meet at a certain point. You may wait, you may walk a block or two, you may get dropped off a block or two from where you’re going. It allows us to match much, much more efficiently, and allows the ride to take less turns.
Right.
So, the ride itself becomes much more efficient. And then, we are thinking about alternative forms of transport. If you look at Jump, the average length of a trip at Jump is 2.6 miles. That is, 30 to 40 percent of our trips in San Francisco are 2.6 miles or less. Jump is much, much cheaper than taking an UberX. To some extent it’s like, “Hey, let’s cannibalize ourselves.” Let’s create a cheaper form of transportation from A to B, and for you to come to Uber, and Uber not just being about cars, and Uber not being about what the best solution for us is, but really being about the best solution for here.
So bikes, scooters?
Bikes, perhaps scooters. I wanna get the bus network on. I wanna get the BART, or the Metro, etc., onto Uber. So, any way for you to get from point A to B.
Wait, you wanna start your own BART? No.
No, no, no. We’re not gonna go vertical. Just like Amazon sells third-party goods, we are going to also offer third-party transportation services. So, we wanna kinda be the Amazon for transportation, and we want to offer the BART as an alternative. There’s a company called Masabi that is connecting Metro, etc., into a payment system. So we want you to be able to say, “Should I take the BART? Should I take a bike? Should I take an Uber?” All of it to be real-time information, all of it to be optimized for you, and all of it to be done with the push of a button.
So, any transportation?
Any transportation, totally frictionless, real time.
And then, Uber Eats is also a growing business for you all.
Eats is an exploding business in a good way. It’s now at a $6 billion bookings ... growing over 200 percent. I think we are going to be the largest food delivery business in the world, X China. It’s taking advantage of our customer base, it’s taking advantage of our brand, but also, we created a startup within the company that can use all of our local infrastructure in all the cities that we’re in. Eats is in only 250 cities on a global basis, and we got another 350 to go in order to catch up to our rides business.
So, that’s a promising business. These other ones are the ones you’re looking to for growth, because you all need to keep that fact.
Yeah listen, the way I think about growth is, there’s a core rides business which is still growing, very, very healthy. We’ve got ...
What is the growth rate of that now?
Overall, the growth rate of our business, this last quarter, the revenue growth was 67 percent. The rides business, we haven’t disclosed, but it’s gotta be at healthy rates in order for the overall business to be growing at 67 percent on a revenue basis.
So, you got the rides business. Eats is scaling. We’ve got businesses like Freight that are going to be bigger businesses three to five years from now. This concept of Uber as a platform for us is something, I think, that’s very, very exciting, kinda five to 10 years from now.
What about self-driving? Nobody thinks you’re staying in self-driving.
I do think we’re staying in self-driving.
How?
So I don’t know about nobody. Listen, the first thing that we gotta do is, we have this incredible tragedy. We’ve got to get back on the road, but we have to be absolutely satisfied that we’re getting back on the road in the safest manner possible. That’s my focus right now. We’re working with a team to do so, and we’ve got a panel of outside experts, former chair of NTSB.
So, you closed Phoenix?
Yeah, yeah. We closed Phoenix, but we will get back on the road over the summer. I actually think that this focus on really, really getting back on the road in as safe a manner as possible, ultimately long-term ... This is a difficult circumstance for everyone involved, first the victim and the victim’s family, but this is gonna make us a better company.
When I think about autonomous, we want to play in it. The technology that we’re building is incredible. Ultimately, I think that we’re not going to look to own the technology for ourselves and will license it to third parties, we’ll work with OEMs, etc. I think autonomous is kind of a horizontal technology that should be available to everybody, so that is something that we will look to do. We will look to partner.
Right. Do you still look at it as an existential threat to your business? Because that’s how Travis thought. I know we talked about it.
It’s existential if we don’t have access to the technology.
Right. So, what do you have to make it? What is the ...
Well listen, we have to have access to it. And I think there are gonna be many autonomous players, and that’s why I think as a principle, we will license out our own technology, and then we’ll look to build around other autonomous technology as well. We’re neutral. We’re a network company. So, if GM builds autonomous technology, I’d welcome Waymo to put cars into our network as well. We wanna be totally neutral.
How is your relationship with Waymo now?
Getting better. Listen, you build relationships slowly but surely.
Right.
I had a long relationship with Google, and I think we have a trust level. We’re having discussions with Waymo. If something happens, great. If not, you know, we can live with that, too.
Discussions on what precisely?
About putting them onto our network.
Right.
They’re an incredible technology provider out there. They’re building, they’re serious about autonomous, and to the extent that that technology could show up on the network I think would be a good thing. Now it’s up to them whether they want to do it or not.
Right. And what are you using to convince them to do so?
Economics.
That they need to be near the reservation.
I think that if you’re building autonomous, for you to be able to put your cars ... to have the highest utilization rate, because it is ultimately going to be ... autonomous will be shared. That’s fundamental to the technology. If it’s shared, you want to have the highest utilization rate possible, and owning and being a part of the largest ride-sharing network on a global basis will enable you to get the highest utilization out of your autonomous cars.
Right.
And ultimately, I don’t think it’s going to be black and white. I think that our network is going to be a hybrid network for a long time. There’s this kind of drama of, are machines going to replace humans?
Yes.
No, machines augment humans. The magic is like, machines and humans together are the thing that better ... You see it in manufacturing, car manufacturing. You saw it ... Facebook even talks about when they’re looking for hate speech, it’s a combination of humans and computers. Computer’s can’t do it alone. Human’s can’t scale. Machines and humans are better.
So you are committed to staying in the autonomous ...
Yeah, and ultimately our network is going to be a machine network and a human network together, and I think that’s a unique magic that Uber can bring.
What about these other things that you were going into? The vertical lift and take off, Jeff Holder just left, he was doing ...
Jeff wanted Eric to run Elevate, and I think Eric is an amazing executive to run Elevate. You know, for us, it is about defining the future of mobility for cities. And the fundamental issue is 50 percent of the world’s population lives in cities now, it’s going to two-thirds of the population. The infrastructure, the transportation infrastructure of cities cannot keep up with that kind of growth, so one is you’ve got to be smarter, which goes to sharing cars, getting away from car ownership, which is Pool.
Second is you need to build out alternative forms of transport, not just cars, which is the bikes that we’re getting into. And the third is just like residential has gone three-dimensional skyscrapers and commercial’s gone three dimensions, you’re gonna have to build a third dimension in terms of transportation, and Elevate for us is the third dimension that we’re taking a big bet on, but it’s a long-term bet and we’re doing it with a number of partners out there.
Last couple of questions, then we’ll get to the audience. So I think a lot of people feel that you’re just going to carve up the world. You got rid of China, that you’ll do that in other markets. Do you see that happening?
We sold in Southeast Asia.
Right.
We are in a position to win in every market that we’re in. Part of the reason we sold in Southeast Asia is one, we believe in Grab and Anthony who runs that business, but we wanted to have enough dry powder to win in everywhere we’re in, and I think we’re in that position.
India, you’re not going to do the same thing?
India, Middle East, Africa, etc., we are going to be, I believe, the winning player in those markets and we’re going to control our own destiny.
Because in a lot of ways, the investment Yahoo made in China is what made it, and right now you’re de-investment ...
I’m hoping that won’t be the path to my success.
Right. Last question, when are you going public?
2019. Second half of 2019, and we’re on track. I need a CFO, though.
You need a lot. You need some women executives, that would be kind of nice.
That would be definitely kind of nice.
And?
Working on it. Working on it.
Results, Dara.
On a serious note, I am ... We talk about recruiting, etc., in order to build a diverse team, you’ve got to build a diverse slate and that takes time. You can say it, but it actually takes time to find the talent out there and to find diverse talent out there. And if I’m going to tell my execs to do it, I’ve got to do it myself.
Right.
And so it is taking time. I don’t know whether it will be a woman or a man, but I’m going to make damn sure I look at both.
Yep. This particular company could use some woman executives. I’m sorry ...
I agree. If we can do it, we’ll make it happen.
The questions from the audience. Right here.
Cid Wilson: Hi. How are you?
Hi.
Cid Wilson: Cid Wilson, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility in Washington, D.C. You’ve had some pretty high-profile diverse hires, Tony West as your general council. You just hired Bo Young Lee as your first chief diversity officer, which is great.
She’s great.
Cid Wilson: And I know, Bozoma Saint John is your chief marketing officer.
She’s not CMO but go ahead.
Cid Wilson: Okay.
Brand officer, yeah.
Cid Wilson: Okay, chief brand officer, sorry. My question is that you hear about a lot of the Silicon Valley CEOs who talk to other CEOs when it comes to issues of diversity and inclusion, what are you hearing when you talk to your fellow colleagues who are the CEOs of the other Silicon Valley companies about what you mention as the challenges you’re finding? Because this morning I asked the same questions of Randall Stevenson at AT&T who ... they don’t seem to have a problem finding diverse talent, and yet you hear Silicon Valley companies and CEOs mentioning that they’re finding challenges finding people of color that can serve in these high-ranking positions, and you found some.
Yep.
Cid Wilson: But what’s been your observations?
So I don’t have a lot of time to talk to other CEOs in Silicon Valley right now, just honest answer, and it goes to two things. One is building a diverse slate so that you’re looking at all kinds of talent, both in terms of underrepresented minorities and women as well, you just have to put in the work.
I do think there’s too much of a focus on hiring and not enough of a focus on development. I’m a huge believer in talent development. If all you’re doing is hiring, it’s like you’re trading with each other, you’re not actually building talent within these companies. Development takes time, and one of the reasons I’m really excited to have Bo on the team is I’m committed to developing diverse talent at this company. Not going to happen overnight, gonna take five to seven years, but then I think that we’ve succeeded if we build some real stars of this company over a period of time.
Okay.
Thanks.
Cid Wilson: Sure.
Let’s keep these questions short because we only have a short amount of time because we do have a drone thing going on.
Jason Del Rey: So I can’t ask three questions, okay.
No!
Jason Del Rey: Hey Dara, Jason Del Rey from Recode. Question about Uber Eats. You talked about believing you’ll be the number one food delivery company outside ... with the exception of China.
I think we are.
Jason Del Rey: You think you are.
Yeah, globally.
Jason Del Rey: What is the long-term differentiation of that business to consumers? Is it the partner restaurants? Is it just scale? And the second part of that is, I’m curious in the U.S. if you think you’ll need any acquisition of other brands in the space to strengthen your hold here.
I think that the magic that we have is the hard-core execution and getting the delivery in under 35 minutes, and getting it under 35 minutes every single time. To move that success factor from 98 percent to 99 percent is incredibly difficult but I think we have a team that is just really driven to making us as perfect and as fast as possible. And I think it’s that simple. Honestly, anyone else as dedicated as being fast every single time. That’s a secret, it seems simple but it’s really hard to execute on.
Jason Del Rey: The second question was just the acquisitions in the space.
I think we will be opportunistic. I’ve done lots of acquisitions in the past. We don’t need an acquisition, but listen, this is a big space, there’s a lot of growth in it. I think that delivery is going to be a much, much bigger portion of eating and consumption going forward. Plan No. 1 is organic, and we’ll be opportunistic if there are acquisitions out there. We just don’t need to do it.
Okay. Quick question because we’ve gotta get ...
Chris Peifer: Hey Dara, congratulations.
Thank you.
Chris Peifer: Chris Peifer, CEO of Hop. As long as we have humans that are driving, I’m just curious because a lot of the safety measures seems to be aimed at the rider and I’m just curious what you’re doing for the driver now that I’ve got family members and friends that are drivers.
Yeah, so we are ... Today, for example, we rolled out a 911 emergency button for riders, we’re doing the same thing for drivers as well. I think that in general we’re trying to get much better at identifying and rating our community, and that includes both riders and drivers, and flagging unsafe riders just as we flag unsafe drivers as well.
We really are ... I believe it’s a competitive differentiation if we make Uber the safest ride-sharing platform on Earth for both riders and drivers.
I’m sorry we can’t get to the last question. I apologize. Dara, I have one more question. Which thing scares you the most, right now as CEO?
What scares me the most is the company’s too dependent on me making decisions. When a decision has to come to me then it’s a failure, because then the team doesn’t know what to do. I haven’t spent enough time on putting my team together. I’ve spent a little too much time on doing and I gotta get that team, and that team has to get aligned so hopefully they can just fly without me.
All right, Dara Khosrowshahi, thank you.
Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
