Emil Michael, Uber’s senior vice president for business and the company’s second in command, is leaving Uber. He delivered the news in an email to the ride-sharing companies employees Monday morning, the New York Times reports.
Sources at Recode reported that Michael stepped down following pressure from Uber’s board. Here’s how Michael framed it in his email:
“Yesterday was my last day with Uber. Starting today, David Richter, our current VP of Strategic Initiatives, will be the new SVP of Business. David is an extremely talented leader and I have high confidence in his ability to help drive the company forward.
[…] Uber has a long way to go to achieve all that it can and I am looking forward to seeing what you accomplish in the years ahead.”
Read about UBER firing their self-driving car guy
Michael’s departure follows an internal investigation overseen by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, due to be released on Tuesday. Uber announced last week that it had fired 20 employees as a result of the harassment probe. And that appears to have just been the start of the board’s response.
Yahoo’s sources confirmed the board’s strong stance on the results of the report:
“Uber’s board met Sunday with holder and consultant Tammy Albarran to discuss the findings and ‘unanimously voted to adopt all the recommendations’ of the report, according to the source.”
As of this news, Uber can add SVP of Engineering to a list of execs it has recently lost, which includes a COO, a CBO, a CFO, and a CMO. Last Sunday the board met to discuss the highest in command, CEO Travis Kalanick, temporarily stepping down.