In the second episode of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, the rideshare company holds an internal conference in Las Vegas. But to call the 2015 event a conference does not do the event anything near justice. It’s more like a blowout bender, complete with keg stands, cocaine, total destruction of hotel property, and even a performance by Beyoncé—which yes, really happened. (She refused a 6 million dollar fee, opting instead for stock in Uber.) Watching the decadence and drama unfold, it is not hard to guess why founder and CEO Travis Kalanick was, a few years later, ousted from Uber in a boardroom coup.
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Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber is currently airing weekly, and tells the story of the rise and fall of the Uber founder, who is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Here’s where Travis Kalanick is now, five years after he was expelled from his own company.
In June 2017, Kalanick stepped down from his position as CEO after what the New York Times called a “shareholder revolt.” In the months leading up to that moment, reports had emerged of an aggressive company culture, rife with sexual harrassement, verbal abuse, and discrimination that was not just ignored but encouraged by management. (For example, in a 2014 GQ article, Kalanick referred to Uber as “Boob-er” because of how his company has also brought him “women on demand.” Episode 4 of Showtime's series is titled "Boober.") After five of Uber’s major investors including Bill Gurley demanded in a letter that Kalanick resign immediately, he complied, though he retained his board seat. In December 2019, Kalanick sold off the last of his shares and left the company’s board in order to “focus on his new business and philanthropic endeavors,” he wrote in a statement. From his Uber shares alone, Kalanick made more than $2.5 billion.
After Kalanick left Uber, he launched a venture firm called 10100, as well as City Storage Systems, a company which redevelops distressed real estate. He is now the CEO there, which serves as a parent company of CloudKitchens. CloudKitchens rents commercial kitchen space and provides fulfillment services to restaurateurs looking to launch food delivery businesses.
Elizabeth MorrisGordon-Levitt as Kalanick in Showtime’s series.
In August 2019, Kalanick purchased a Soho penthouse complete with a pool and rooftop for $36.5 million, the most expensive home sold in New York that month. In 2020, he bought a $43.3 million Los Angeles mansion. According to Page Six, Kalanick began dating Victoria’s Secret model Daniela Lopez Osorio in early 2021, but the pair has since split. According to Forbes, Kalanick’s net worth is around $2.7 billion dollars today.
Travis Kalanick declined to participate or consult at all on Showtime’s series about him. Instead, Super Pumped is based on New York Times reporter Mike Isaac’s book of the same name, as well as interviews with over 200 sources. “I’m not a journalist, I’m an actor. So, my job is not just to relay what happened,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt said about the role. “My job is to relay how it felt and who is the whole human being making these things happen, and I’m of the opinion that all human beings are complicated.” Kalanick’s Instagram is currently set to private and he has not tweeted since 2019, so he’s yet to offer up his thoughts, if he’s tuning in.
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