Previously on Super Pumped.
It's what you call triage, Travis.
You're the guy dying of liver failure.
I'm the guy trying to help you kick the bottle.
I'm alive and doing the thing.
I brought in Holder. I'm solving this.
Real American heroes.
Yeah, how cool that both of my boys are kickin' ass.
Yeah.
Go faster!
This is Bonnie Kalanick.
Please leave me a message,
and I'll get back to you. Thanks.
What are your recommendations?
I have them outlined. It is not a short list.
Sexism, lying, lack of diversity.
These are all bad enough, but it's only the beginning.
The Holder Report specifically recommends your removal.
It's always a friend who does it.
I cannot let anything take me down, not even you.
I'll make sure the Board knows you took care of it.
They'll endorse a leave of absence for you.
How long you been planning all this?
Wait, is this legal?
It's not really illegal
if the laws are bullshit in the first place.
You ever heard of Greyball?
The God-child that comes to change the world
isn't born all pink-cheeked in a fleecy diaper.
He comes out wailing and covered in slime
like all the rest.
Some motherfuckers want to kill him on sight.
And if industrious city
and state regulator motherfuckers have their way,
yellow cabs might still dominate.
Did Uber do it all the right way?
I think it's clear the answer to that is, "Fuck no."
Were they using secret and perhaps illegal technology
to fool those regulators who were trying to enforce
those annoying fucking laws
preventing unlicensed livery cars
from picking up passengers?
And did Uber find its ass on the hot seat
due to these allegations?
Hell.
Like I said,
covered in slime, fighting to survive.
But I'm glad we talked
Oh, I
Oh, I'm still alive
Yeah, I...
- So, should we call him? - No.
- Well, can I call him? - No.
Fuck.
Oh, this is bad.
Ain't good. Greyball.
What the fuck?
What were you guys thinking?
Or was it the standard not thinking that seems to have--
Survival. Winning. Growth. Trying not to get fired.
Those are the basic thought patterns following TK's orders.
Anticipating his other orders--
All the shit you picked TK to fucking get done.
We were the "get 'er done" squad, man.
Yeah, I never once, not once, told any--
TK gives the order. Emil seconds it.
Of course, now they're not here to field the questions
or give the new instructions or clean it up.
Oh, shit.
I mean, if we're rattled, fuck.
Look, you can just feel the panic
coursing through all of them.
No one really seems to know what to do without those guys here.
Without TK, uh, truth is I don't know what to do.
Yeah, I see that.
So... can I call him?
No!
And if TK reaches out to you, do not answer that phone, man.
No victory down that path. No honor. Not now.
Only more destruction.
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.
That where there is hatred, I may bring love.
That where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony.
That where there is error, I may bring truth.
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.
That where there is despair, I may bring hope.
Good morning, Bill.
Is it?
I know why you're here.
We're here because of all of it.
And now, Greyball.
Shit.
Please.
That Greyball story is shaking some shit up.
Yeah, I'm in the "shaking shit up" game.
Your story is just the beginning.
There's gonna be more fallout. You know that, right?
You see me packing my laptop, right?
You have something firm?
A bunch "off the record,"
"didn't hear it from me."
Yeah. Someone's gonna fall.
Is it Kalanick?
This latest news,
in addition to the rest of it, is the breaker.
The company looks like a runaway tech weapon
run by some kind of miscreant.
Fidelity's client base is broad and varied,
representative of our entire country.
There's a lot of competition out there.
Our difference-maker is trust.
Our clients trust us.
And as head of the firm, that's not something
I'm willing to risk on Travis Kalanick any longer,
who's proven himself publicly untrustworthy.
Well, I know you agree.
I understand he built this incredible company,
and that's a rare thing.
More than rare.
Sure.
It's even beyond a business cycle.
It's a once-in-a-generation event.
But, Bill, you and I are from the same mold,
and we're supposed to focus on things bigger than profits.
On culture.
And Travis bred a toxic one, and you know it.
You get into this to make money.
I mean...
there are a lot of different ways to make money.
You get into this to...
to build something.
To back someone often...
someone very young.
To empower them to...
to build a world that was not there before them.
You sure as hell don't get into it
to boost them up, just to butcher them.
It's a difficult decision, that's all.
Come on, hoss.
You've already made it.
As you would say to me,
you do the thing even if it's hard...
because it's right.
He's got loyalists on the Board,
and he's got those super-voting shares.
You know this.
This is gonna be very difficult to execute.
That's why you're the man to do it.
Uh, no, I do not want to talk to fucking Olivia Lungociu.
Especially today.
Give me Hazelbaker, though. Call her cell.
Don't go through the office line.
I don't want them to know we're rolling calls.
Shit. Okay, uh, just get me, um, whoever's reachable in comms.
Yo. Good, yeah. Hey, it's TK.
Listen, I know I'm on leave, but this is crucial.
It's just too important to--
You're not supposed to.
You know, I'm still the boss, so if you don't do it,
I'll just find somebody else who will.
By the way, I'm the guy that voluntarily went on leave.
Voluntarily, as in my choice.
I stepped back so that I could step in again when I have to.
No, no, I decide what is supposed to happen,
and that statement needs to hit my phone
within the next ten seconds, okay?
Now, hang up and do it.
Hey, Pen, can you follow up and make sure this fucking idiot
sends me what they're supposed to send me?
Great, thank you. Get me Gil.
Gil, what is up, dude? Listen...
you and I both know you were hoping to hear my voice today
to guide you through all this fucking bullshit, right?
Nobody is gonna find out anything, man.
Just listen to me, listen...
Gil, Gil, Gil, Gil, listen to me.
Okay, I don't give a shit what they said.
I'm still CEO. I'm still on the board.
I'm still the stockholder with the controls.
You're gonna take my call and do what is best for the company.
Thank you for your condolences. Really does a heart good.
Here's what I need.
It was a really nice service, Dad.
I know you wanted to be there.
We couldn't wait, though. Felt wrong.
It's just the way she would have wanted it, you know?
- Hi. - Hey.
You know, your limo got here before me.
I saw it parked out there.
What were you doing?
Rolling calls?
No, I was getting myself together
so I wouldn't snot all over Dad.
Fuck.
Look, I didn't want to argue, all right? Not today.
Yeah, I didn't want any petty jealousies.
Not today.
Okay.
Ask. Dare you.
Mom told you before.
No, you gotta say it.
If you have the balls. Go ahead. Ask.
I'm in a jam you know you can fix,
- and you're gonna make me ask? - Just say the words.
I mean, if it matters enough to you, you will, right?
I appreciate you picking up the funeral expenses, okay?
I do.
But it's not enough.
I got overextended. I need help.
Money help.
At a time like this.
Mom's dead, Dad is barely breathing.
Man!
Have some class.
- I'll lose my house. - So let me get this straight.
Me doing my business out in the car, that's bad,
but the money I get from it, that's good.
And so is you asking me for some.
Fair.
Here's a novel idea.
Why don't you try being a person?
I don't loan money.
I give it freely to friends and family
who love me and get me.
So, I'll have to say no to you.
But here's a suggestion.
As a possible revenue generator?
Why don't you license the footage of that cat video?
- You're an asshole. - Oh, no. Right.
The cat fucking died.
I gotta go.
Well, whoever told you that...
Off the record? Well, good.
I can't say they're lying or confirm.
But I'm not in the business
of publicly embarrassing my own people.
One, it's not right.
And two, it doesn't exactly make the second version of Travis
want to do business with me.
So, if you'd like to confirm, call me for comment.
Otherwise, Olivia, please don't.
All right, everybody.
First matter.
Travis's leave of absence,
one that we hoped would have teeth
and set our company culture on the road to recovery
has turned out to be nothing short of a sham.
We know he's still contacting folks.
Engineers have metadata
saying that he's even getting into the code.
Can he do that?
I didn't even know he knew how to do that.
Well, he could figure out pretty much anything.
That was him right there, wasn't it?
You know, I saw this movie the other day.
Life, with Ryan Reynolds.
He's on the Space Station, and there's this...
this tiny alien that gets picked up by a spacecraft.
It seems like a miracle at first.
Well, it turns out that this thing,
it's hardwired to feed and survive.
Well, it turns out to be a threat,
so they try to contain it in this, uh, in this box...
but it grows in size and strength.
And then it started killing everybody.
Well, their last hope is they lure it into an escape pod,
they shoot it out into deep space,
and they save humanity, what have you.
The point is...
Travis is the alien.
He will destroy Uber, our reputations,
our livelihoods, and we will be screwed.
And if we don't put him in a box and keep him there,
we'll all be dead.
What kind of a box are we talking about here?
Because this leave of absence was a joke,
and as everyone knows, he can't just be fired.
Not with the shares and bylaws as is.
Even with my weight of the shares,
all I can do is block him, not remove.
That's why we have to have him resign.
Never gonna happen.
He loves Uber. He breathes it like air.
What-- What's the-- the leverage?
The press.
They're all over this.
Travis is concerned about how he's gonna look
when he gets kicked out of his own company,
so we draft two letters.
One, our grievances.
All of them.
And we demand he resign.
The second one's his resignation.
We frame it as him stepping down
in order to deal with family matters.
But we let him know that if he signs one,
the press will never see the other.
And if he doesn't, what about then?
Well, I guess we convert the preferred stock to common,
and all the investors and the employees get votes.
A proxy fight?
At the cost of us losing our dividends and claims on assets?
I'd say that's the nuclear fucking option.
It is.
And that's exactly why
we have got to get him to step down.
What the hell happens
in that movie with the alien anyway, Bill?
They able to send that thing back to space?
No, it landed in the water on Earth
and some fishermen opened it up, and...
that's where the movie ended.
I need you in on this with me.
Not halfway, not just forward facing, but for real.
Arianna, I know how much this matters to you.
I truly believe that in the long run,
this is what's best for Travis too.
I like that you make this appeal to me
knowing I care about him holistically,
but I have a duty to do the right thing for the company
and for Travis.
And I will.
So you're with us then?
Garrett?
We have to have your support.
Like you said, you have enough shares
to block anything the rest of us want to do
if you line up with Travis.
Yeah, well, it's important to remember
that every single thing Travis Kalanick did
was to further Uber.
It's important to remember
what the world looked like before Uber.
It's important to remember this was a worthy revolution.
They're all worthy.
That's why they happen.
But most revolutionaries don't become the best leaders.
They become fascists.
And one by one throughout history,
they end up getting rid of horrible regimes.
They set out to do better, but they end up doing worse.
Until they get unseated by the next monster.
And if you think I'm exaggerating,
you name me one group of rebels who didn't become fascists.
Well, the American Revolutionaries.
Bill, Uber itself was the revolution.
The people running it hardly matter at this point.
Yeah, TK, he has to go.
He likes it too much.
- What? - The winning.
The power. The carnage.
If he's left in place,
all the treasure gained in the uprising will be lost.
You know, we'd better draft this letter.
I need to know for myself just how bad it is
before I go along with this.
In case you don't know, my name is Arianna Huffington,
and I'm a board member of this company.
And I'm here to listen.
Yes, ma'am.
Deliver the letters.
You know what this means.
As do you.
He's not in the office, but he's back in town.
His assistant knows where.
Deliver the letters.
We're a go.
I'm not gonna be able to get within 50 yards of him.
I'm gonna need you two to deliver those.
Yeah, about these letters, Bill.
We're not up for it.
You don't want to deliver them?
We don't want them delivered at all.
Look, fellas, I understand this is a shit detail,
but let me tell you--
Not sure you do understand.
You're you.
Your Bill fricking Gurley.
You've got standing in this business.
Money. You'll be fine.
But we're us.
Closer to the beginning.
This isn't gonna be our last fund,
and if we deliver an execution letter to a founder--
If we go out in the world with Benchmark on our résumés
after doing this,
they're not gonna let us in a single door.
All right.
Complaint lodged.
But you know what?
I've got enough wood on my mallet
to know what you seem to be missing.
The difference maker is reputation.
You gotta walk it like you talk it, because, fellas, so few do.
I'm gonna need you to take those and put those in his hand,
or those résumés that you're so concerned about
are gonna come into play a hell of a lot sooner
than what you think.
Mine included.
The testimony that Mr. Comey has submitted
for today's hearing is very disturbing.
For example, on January 27th,
after summoning Director Comey to dinner,
the president appears to have threatened the director's job
while telling him, quote,
"I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."
He asked specifically
of loyalty in the context of asking me to stay.
Wow.
A loyalty test.
I mean, that is an absurdity,
of course, coming from a president to an FBI director,
legal constitutional questions, whatever.
But, I mean, kind of get it, right?
A guy sees his enemies lining up against him,
he wants to know who his allies are.
Which is to say--
- Mr. Kalanick-- - "TK" to my friends.
TK, I appreciate you kept this interview on the books,
even if it is at a hotel instead of the offices, but--
No buts. No nothing.
I need a CFO, Malcolm.
Someone to ride herd over the numbers
and placate the fucking Board.
I need a strong number two, a loyal number two.
I will need that as soon as I step back
into actively managing the company.
And when might that happen? Is there a date for your return?
It's really my call.
Whenever I feel they've grown enough without me.
They don't need to call me for every little detail, you know.
They need to take some initiative.
They need to make some decisions and stand by them.
I thought this would be a good chance to give them that.
And, look, I'm not gonna ask for loyalty and honesty
without giving it back, so I'll also say this:
I needed a reset.
Change in perspective.
So have you set a timetable to go back?
Because when would this start for me?
I haven't picked you yet, brother.
If there are other interviews lined up,
I can step out.
And you should be begging me for this gig.
I mean, you have the credentials,
but do you have the hunger?
I don't know.
I'm not sure it's for me.
Well, if that was a loyalty test, you failed.
And know this: in a few weeks, I am roaring back,
and I will have a loyal fucking lieutenant by my side
snapping necks, and it could have been you
if you had the fucking nut sack for it.
Thanks for meeting me, TK.
You don't get to call me that anymore.
Reconsidered already?
Smart.
Let's do this interview right.
Well, now I know how Neo felt when Agent Smith showed up.
Except I'm the one in the black suit.
Nah, we're not here to kill you.
Just to encourage you to kill yourself.
In a professional sense only, of course.
Yeah, I don't believe that for a fucking second.
It would be great for you if I'd off myself, right?
You wouldn't have to hand me whatever's in that
and face my reaction to it.
We've been authorized and empowered by Uber's board
to present you with these.
To present you with this opportunity.
Wow. You just made the word "opportunity"
sound like a eulogy.
- That's a special gift. - Read it, man.
So Bill didn't have the stones
to come over himself.
The thinking was, we all...
you know, the three of us here could just do this
without personal rancor, without vitriol,
without dredging up history.
There's some incendiary shit in here.
What are you trying to do, fucking embarrass me?
Embarrass the company?
No one wants to.
That's what this is for.
Sign it, TK.
And we'll be gone from here,
and you can move on.
What is there in what you know about me
and/or my history that makes you think
I would ever sign this fucking bullshit?
Well, it's more about your future than it is your history.
I mean, your past actions got us here, no doubt.
But if you want to move forward,
if you want the company to move forward, this is the way.
You've been given until 6:00 p.m.
to sign and step down quietly.
If you do so, we promise that the press
will never hear about any of this.
About how it's not really a resignation, but an ouster.
Otherwise, everyone will find out.
You will be publicly humiliated,
and you will have a very hard time
ever raising money for anything again.
Wow.
You know, that would work...
if you had any leverage,
but you don't.
You can't ouster me.
I control the Board vote with my shares.
If you think I'm scared of public reaction,
think about this: I'll go first.
I'll go to the fucking press. New York Times.
Wall Street Journal. I'm gonna crush Gurley and you,
and the rest of you bean counters
for making this move and failing.
You guys are gonna be like the limp dick dudes
in a gangbang video standing by the wall
trying to work up a chubby while the real men fuck the porn star.
Hopeless, pathetic, and caught on film forever.
- Jesus. - Whoa, Travis.
The Board can't force me out. You know that.
Gurley definitely knows that.
And yet, here we stand,
with the resignation letter
we very much expect you to sign.
So...
Yeah.
Okay, tell me the rest.
The board members,
they're prepared to convert shares,
broaden the voting base.
What might be referred to as the nuclear option.
That would be horrible for them.
That would make them basically powerless.
It's like River Kwai. At a certain point,
if the only way to win the war is to bring down the bridge,
you do it.
Even if you might die in the process.
They and we believe this is the only way
to save the company.
There's only one person in this room
who has proved again and again
that he knows what's best for this company,
and that person is the one who built it into an empire.
And like almost all empires,
the very things that built it will destroy it
if they aren't willing to shift to the new realities
of the new world they created.
Now, we aren't here to argue this shit out, man.
We're here to give you the chance to save your reputation,
to save the company you love,
and to have some fucking dignity in defeat.
Dignity in defeat is what losers hang on to
to forget that that's what they are.
You have the letter.
If you sign it, the press never finds out why.
If you don't, you will still be kicked out of the company,
but the world will know everything.
You will be the one who looks impotent.
Your choice.
Sign the fucking letter.
Before you talk, I want you to breathe.
So you knew about it.
I can imagine it is quite the jolt.
Did you assent to this? Did you join--?
Travis, it is important to focus on right now.
On this moment.
How it got here,
that is the autopsy we will do later.
But now, you have to consider not your own emotions
or not only your own emotions,
but how to serve Uber
and the teams of people you put together here.
Yeah, well, I think fast, as you know,
so I've done all that already,
but what I need from you is to back me
as you have always done.
I need to know that I have your support.
My support for you, holistically, in all ways,
is never in doubt.
I said the same to Bill Gurley not long ago.
Okay, I can count on that?
You can always count on me.
But, you know,
thinking quickly, even for you,
isn't always best.
Perhaps if we talk it through together,
we will land at the right decision,
the right process, the right approach.
Yeah, we will have time to do that
after I crush these fuckers,
but right now, I gotta rally the troops.
I'm gonna lock in my allies.
So, thank you, Arianna. Talk to you soon.
They're trying to oust me. You believe that shit?
My mom is barely in the ground--
Trav, why are you here?
What can I do for you?
You know a lot of those guys on the board.
Garret, Graves. They like you. They respect you.
I want to reach out to them, tell them to stand down.
You've disempowered me with all of them.
But luckily, you don't need them.
Or Uber.
Your shares make you a rich man.
Whether you sell them now in the private market,
or wait until the company goes public,
it's just varying shades of rich.
And I know a half a dozen companies
that you could step in and run and grow.
Hold on...
Okay, look, you're still getting your advisor shares, all right?
- Full fucking value.
You know, I always thought that the childish,
destructive part of you
would be pulled up by the brilliant business side,
that you'd evolve, but it went the other way.
I cannot believe I'm getting this shit from you right now.
Today. You've always at my back. You've always--
Don't say "ride or die." I don't want to hear that shit.
Because I was.
I have been.
But were you?
At some point, you decided that you didn't want someone
who would challenge you.
You wanted something else. Her.
Because why?
When you looked at me, it reminded you of before?
Before you were you?
Of your failures?
You didn't want to be held accountable anymore,
so you chose an accessory.
And oh, by the way,
I was suggesting that you sign on at another company
because despite being a jerk,
you're a hell of a business operator.
I am more than some fucking operator,
I am a founder.
And I already have a company.
Can't talk to you, TK. You know this.
I know, but I need you, bro. This is the time.
This is the call.
This is when you finally prove you got my back
and that my faith in you was warranted.
It was. It is.
But like you always said, Uber was the thing.
Right?
Every decision, all about Uber.
Yeah, what could be more Uber
than helping me save fucking Uber?
That's the most Uber thing ever, right?
And you're on the inside, man. You are listened to.
And you only have your voting shares
because I gave them to you.
Right? Show me the lie in any of that.
No lies.
Then this is what we're gonna do.
But I don't know, TK.
I don't think I can do what you want me to do.
Things are pretty out of control right now.
No, not pretty out of control. Shit is totally out of control.
Agreed. Let's get it fucking under control.
If we band together,
we take a stand,
they see that they cannot move us,
they will fold like a fucking...
Tent?
Like a sucker at a poker table
when Texas Dolly shows him the nuts
for the deed to his house.
Sad and silent and gutted forever.
That is what we can do to Gurley and Drummond
and the rest of these motherfuckers!
No.
No, it's gone too far.
I can't line up with you. I gotta lay back
and stick with the company.
You have to stick with the company?
I am the fucking company!
You answered a goddamn tweet with another tweet,
and I made you CEO!
And I kept you in the company,
even though we saw in five minutes
you couldn't do the CEO job,
and I had to step in and do all of it!
The strategic work! The scut work!
The fucking work!
I'd say "Et tu, Brute,"
but you'd probably think it was a fucking Dave Matthews lyric!
Well, thinking about it now,
maybe Caesar deserved what he got, man.
Oh, deserved?
And what do you think you deserve?
I made you a fucking billionaire,
and you're sticking the knife between my ribs
to the fucking handle with a smile on your face.
I'm not smiling.
Yeah, you tell yourself that,
and maybe it'll help you sleep at night.
Oh, and fuck you!
How'd he take it?
Not well.
As expected.
But he did take it?
Yeah.
He said he'd let us know by end of day.
Goddamn it.
Every minute he drags this out,
the chances of a leak
and us looking like fuck-ups increase.
- Whoo! Yeah!
Whoo! Let's go!
Hey, Camp!
All right, um, sub?
My man.
TK.
Look, no one wanted this to end up here.
Yeah, I can tell you're really burdened by it.
You almost short-armed that chicken wing
you threw downfield.
Oh no, wait, you nailed it,
'cause you're not thinking about me at all.
Well, what use would that be, brother?
I'm out here on the field, and out here, I'm an airbender.
Oh.
At Uber, on Uber calls, I'm dealing with Uber shit.
- I'm Uber brass, right?. - Right. That's why I exist,
so you can be an airbender.
Because I am never not dealing with Uber shit.
That's the pact we made all those fucking years ago.
Can't go back on it now.
Things happen. Things change.
Things don't just change. We make them change.
Or we stop them from changing. We have the agency.
That's what makes us who we are.
That's why we've been able to do everything that we've done,
and we're not finished.
Entropy. Inertia. Forward motion.
It's the nature of the world, man.
The sooner you realize what can't be changed,
the sooner you'll have some peace.
I don't want peace. I want war.
I'm built for that, and I wage it better than anybody.
Yeah, well, maybe just find a quiet place in the grass
or on some trail, and like...
just let that all go.
Dude, this is my fucking life. It's not some ashram.
I'm losing my company.
It was never your company.
It wasn't your idea.
It was mine.
And you weren't the fucking founder, I was.
Wow.
You loved saying that, didn't you, airbender?
Look at you. You're still shaking from the adrenaline hit.
I bet that threw off more endorphins
than five years of your fucking wilderness walks.
Nah.
See, it's not how I'm built.
I don't get off on the conflict or the ego or the power.
That's why I'm still at Uber...
and you won't be.
Let's go. Come on, let's go!
I want to show you something.
How did you get that?
I don't know.
Encrypted email came in.
Hidden address.
Confirm they're real.
I can't do that.
I'm aware of the Hobson's choice you've all given Travis.
That if he willingly resigns--
I can't speak to any of this, Olivia.
Then let me.
I know promises were made to Travis.
We're off the record still, yes?
We are.
If he resigns...
I see no further reason to punish him.
Because your interests will have been served.
Your company saved.
Perfectly said.
But if you think about the broader interests...
You mean for your career, Olivia.
After you break the story?
Sure.
It'll be good for me.
But I meant, what about your responsibility?
If Travis gets to just resign without a public accounting,
then what stops the next guy sitting in that chair
from acting just like him?
And if you let that happen,
you're co-conspirators, like it or not.
I need you to confirm, or I can't run it.
So yeah, while there aren't many of us,
those of us who are here are pretty badass.
And we've just got to hang in and stick together,
and we'll make it.
That's what I came here to share with you.
If you go home, they win.
If you leave and go somewhere else, they win.
If you switch industries, they win.
So be better.
Be smarter, tougher, grittier.
And more fucking valuable
until you are utterly undeniable
and you can't be removed even with a pickaxe and a chisel.
And once we do some of that,
then we can talk about remaking it.
Thanks.
Oh, great, thank you so much for organizing this.
We should be in touch.
What the fuck?
Did you track me here through the app?
I heard you're still all up in the code.
No, just Find My Friends.
We're linked.
Well, that's gonna change.
Look, Austin,
these guys are all bailing on me,
but I can still run this company,
and you know that.
But I need you behind me,
'cause with you behind me, I get the grunts behind me.
And once the Board sees that, they'll back down.
So I came to find you, because I need you.
I need you to help me organize everybody.
You and me, man, together.
We can...
Can't.
Even you, huh?
I would never do anything to hurt you.
What the fuck do you call this?
I guess I call it the new reality,
one where the results don't make up for everything
that helped to get them.
So, you want to just kill them with kindness.
Pass out little paper cups of juice,
roll out the mats for naptime?
Maybe we just treat them like people.
Oh, so you got a better fucking way?
No.
Just saying we'd better find one.
You brought them with you?
You are exhausted.
Of course you are.
I am exhausted just thinking about what you've been through.
You know, no one else
sees a real person when they look at me.
Well, for a long time, you didn't want them to.
You wanted them to see a sector.
An industry.
A unicorn.
But unicorns don't need downtime,
because they don't exist.
Human beings do.
Do you just have this stuff at the ready all the time?
When I care about someone,
I think about them and what they need
and their situation.
Then it just comes to me.
Well, it's served you well, the...
The whole "person" thing.
I like to think it serves all of us well.
I didn't serve her well.
My mom.
That is one thing
that is definitely not your fault.
No, I was supposed to be there. I should have been there,
but these fuckers kept me so occupied with bullshit
that now she's gone.
They were trying to kill me, they ended up killing her.
How'd I let her die?
I mean, fuck! What...
Why would I let myself get so focused
that I forget about her, and--
- and what kind of man...? - Shh! Travis.
You're almost there. You're almost ready to let--
- You are letting go.
No, I'm not.
I'm not letting go of anything.
You know, when I tell you to breathe,
there's a scientific basis to it.
- Come.
Sit again.
The somatic system
responds to the quantity of carbon dioxide
in your bloodstream.
This regulates it.
Not looking to be regulated.
You're already breathing better just sitting here with me now.
- Aren't you? - I know. Yeah, I am.
Because I won't fight with you. It's not something I do.
So you can let the guard all the way down.
Continue the letting go.
You have to.
If I let my guard down,
then the enemy troops can just march in.
Travis!
Is that such a bad thing?
You are still owning a huge percentage of this company.
You are still the guy who did this.
Now, you can be the guy who does the next thing.
And let these fuckers win after everything they did?
They are going to win.
They've won.
The question is only the terms of that victory.
I see this now.
And if you allow yourself to think,
you will see it too.
So what?
What do you think would be acceptable terms for me?
I think you step down.
The press never hears about the meeting with Cohler and Fenton.
It goes out as Travis Kalanick,
in the wake of the death of his mother,
has decided that he has made Uber so strong, so powerful,
that it can thrive in his absence...
and that it is time to focus on himself.
I told myself I would never let another company
be taken from me.
So don't let it be taken.
Give it up. Let go. Be free.
But if I'm Uber and Uber is me, then what am I without it?
You are Travis Kalanick.
The man who gave the world the chance to travel freely,
how and where they want.
No one can ever say different.
Just imagine yourself without this burden.
Waking up without Board oversights.
Without the press hounding you.
Without Bill Gurley telling you how to act like a champion.
You are the man your mother loved and respected
and hoped you would become.
All right, I'll sign it.
Bring them in.
I'll tell them.
One condition.
Bill Gurley is out.
One champion to another,
if I'm not wearing the belt, neither is he.
He's off the fucking board.
Someone else from his company can sit on it,
but not that motherfucker.
He'll agree.
I'll make sure of it.
She'll give it to you once she takes care of my one condition.
So it's done?
Yes.
But I need to tell you what I agreed to.
You stepping off the board was the final piece,
but he's out.
There'll never be another one that trusts me, will there?
A founder.
Probably not, Bill,
but Uber will come clean now,
go public,
and your last name will be Billionaire.
So... does it matter?
I know what you say about me, what you think about me.
What people think.
Am I good with it?
Does it matter?
No.
It does not.
You know, the times we live in,
they condemn what I've had to do to make this thing work.
But here's the truth, my truth: sometimes, to change the world,
you need to do whatever is necessary
to take a "no" and turn it into a "yes."
If that means acting like an asshole, being an asshole,
I'm an asshole.
And I'm not alone in that.
To paraphrase everybody's favorite poet:
"The asshole now is later to win."
Here's a roster for you. Gates: asshole.
Jobs: asshole.
Bezos, I would say it, but I'm actually scared to.
And if you think I'm wrong about any of that,
just go read the court cases, the articles for yourself.
You know what? Don't!
Just sit there farting into your couch
and dreaming about everything you would do
if you weren't so goddamn nice.
At least admit this:
you love riding in my cars,
you love that they show up at your whim,
and you love all the stuff that's come since
as a direct result of my innovations.
So be virtuous,
be better than me and write me off.
But while you're cheering for me getting screwed,
just remember how secretly grateful you are
for everything I did for you.
Everything I gave you.
Signing that resignation letter was a mistake.
By the way, it's not binding.
I won't be bound by some mistake
like my leave of absence, which is now officially over.
So who's ready for our next stage of growth?
- Yeah?
We're gonna go beyond moving people to moving things,
delivering anything and everything that anybody needs
by land, by air, by fucking sea!
I am ready for my second act!
Who amongst you is ready as well?
Now, you can carry on without me if you want,
and you'll make money, at least for a little while.
But when you look back and you're retired,
won't you be prouder to have followed me today.
Now we, together,
have already built the most important transportation company
the world has ever seen.
Who's ready to see
what we build next?
Come on!
Tech company CEO, Travis Kalanick,
has been forced out from Uber,
the ride-hailing company he helped build.
This has come in a report by the New York Times.
It's gone on to say that five of Uber's major investors
have demanded that the chief executive resign immediately.
And this includes one of Uber's biggest shareholders,
the venture capital firm, Benchmark,
which has, uh, one of its partners, Bill Gurley,
on Uber's board.
They mention making the demand for Kalanick to resign
in a letter that was submitted...
- Bricked my fucking phone. - ...while he was in Chicago.
Of course, uh, we know that a number of key executives...
You just couldn't help yourself, huh?
Had to leak it.
You want to know if it was me?
Does it matter?
Hundred different ways all this could have gone.
You forced this one on us.
I for--
You sent your kindergartners over to lie to me.
They said this would not go public.
They said the death would be an honorable one.
Well, in my experience, even a good death sucks.
You fucking VCs, man.
Just screw you over every time with a song on their lips.
But here's the thing about dead men.
You should let them lie
instead of hanging around haunting lobbies,
living like ghosts.
I just came here to get my shit and say goodbye.
Well, we'll send it wherever. I saw them packing it.
You can't go up there.
You're dead, too, you know. You're gone as I am.
I took your ass out with me,
so I don't know why you're swaggering around
like you're John fucking Wayne from The Searchers.
Because my entire sense of self
isn't wrapped up in what happens at Uber
or any of my companies.
Yeah, you tell yourself you don't care,
if that makes you feel better,
but for warriors,
the field of battle's all that ever matters.
You tell yourself that.
You know what? Fuck it, TK. You're right.
We're both casualties of the same war.
And you know what else?
We're both gonna have the same last name
the rest of our lives.
Make sure you do something with it.
Amy, gather the kids up, please.
Make sure they're all there.
I'll be home for dinner.
I know you think I'm going to burn some sage or something.
And actually, yes, that would be a good idea.
I will.
But first, this space, formerly called the War Room,
is a symbol of much that was wrong with this company.
And for that, it will for now on be known as the Peace Room.
Unsealed on a porch
A letter sat
Then you said
I wanna leave it again
Once I saw her
On a beach Of weathered sand
And on the sand
I wanna leave it again Yeah
On a weekend
Wanna wish it all away Yeah
And they called and I said That I want what I said
And then I call out again
Fuck it. Fuck this town. Take me to the airport.
I said I don't know whether I'm the boxer or the bag
Oh, yeah
Can you see them
Out on the porch?
Yeah, but they don't wave
I see them
Round the front way, yeah
And I know and I know
I don't want to stay
Make me cry
I see
I don't know There's something else
I wanna drum it all away
Oh, I said I don't I don't know
Whether I'm the boxer Or the bag
Oh, yeah
Can you see them
Out on the porch?
Yeah, but they don't wave
I see them
Round the front way, yeah
And I know and I know
I don't want to stay
Oh, no
I don't wanna stay
Ooh
I don't wanna stay
Oh, no
Oh
Yeah
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh