Travis Kalanick led Uber from December 2010 to June 2017. Several disputes marked that period, and a run of them in 2017 ended his time as chief executive.
In October 2010 San Francisco regulators sent a cease-and-desist order, and Kalanick ignored it and renamed UberCab as Uber. In March 2017 it was reported that in 2014 a group of executives including Kalanick had visited a karaoke bar in Seoul featuring escorts, and that a female employee had complained to human resources.
In February 2017 a video was published of Kalanick berating an Uber driver. Reports that month also said he knew of harassment allegations at the company. On 27 February he asked Amit Singhal, a senior vice president of engineering, to resign over an undisclosed harassment claim from Singhal's time at Google.
On 11 June 2017 the final report of an independent investigation into sexual harassment at Uber was presented to top management, and it recommended that Kalanick take a leave of absence. He began one on 13 June. On 20 June he resigned as CEO after investors including Benchmark Capital demanded it, and Dara Khosrowshahi became CEO that August.
Benchmark sued Kalanick in August 2017 for fraud and breach of contract, and a court sent the case to arbitration on 30 August. Benchmark dropped the lawsuit in January 2018. Kalanick left the board effective 31 December 2019.