Travis Kalanick Cancelled His Code Conference Interview ⇥ recode.net

Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, Recode:

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is not the first exec to deal with sexual harassment and sexism issues. And he’s not the first to be accused of stealing technology. He’s also not the first to anger customers through cloddish statements. And he’s not the first to face significant doubts about his ability to manage a fast-growing startup.

But he is the very first speaker in the 15 years we have been putting on our tech and media events to cancel his interview due to the many embarrassing issues at his company. In this case, because the report from former Attorney General Eric Holder on Uber’s culture and management problems has been delayed until the week of Code at the end of May.

Without Swisher and Mossberg hammering Kalanick about Uber’s stormy past few months, this should alleviate a potential PR problem. Yet, the PR problem is not the concern.