“Travis Kalanick never authorised any actions or programs that would obstruct justice in any country. Mr Kalanick never authorised or directed any illegal conduct in Uber’s expansion efforts in Russia, and in fact had very limited involvement in those expansion plans. And Mr Kalanick never suggested that Uber should take advantage of violence at the expense of driver safety. Any accusation that Mr Kalanick directed, engaged in, or was involved in any of these activities is completely false
“The reality was that Uber’s expansion initiatives were led by over a hundred leaders in dozens of countries around the world and at all times under the direct oversight and with the full approval of Uber’s robust legal, policy, and compliance groups.
“In pressing its false agenda that Mr Kalanick directed illegal or improper conduct, the ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] claims to have documents that Mr Kalanick was on or even authored, some of which are almost a decade old. Tellingly, the ICIJ flatly rejected requests to review any of those documents, which further exacerbates concerns about many of the source documents’ authenticity.
“When Mr Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009, he and the rest of the Uber team pioneered an industry that has now become a verb. To do this required a change of the status quo, as Uber became a serious competitor in an industry where competition had been historically outlawed. As a natural and foreseeable result, entrenched industry interests all over the world fought to prevent the much-needed development of the transportation industry.
“As the ICIJ and the world know, Uber persevered. It would not be surprising to learn that the very reporters and individuals involved in the ICIJ’s reporting on these issues in fact use Uber themselves on a regular basis, demonstrating precisely how meaningful Uber has become all over the world.”
