On Sunday night, Uber's board of directors finally chose its next CEO: Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia's chief executive. The Uber CEO job has been vacant since late Junem when co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down after being pressured by a group of investors.
Why it matters: At $70 billion, Uber is the most valuable private company in the world. It's also a global business that's facing a multitude of challenges, including ongoing losses, an ugly trade secret theft lawsuit, an aggressive culture that has created an environment of sexual harassment and discrimination, and a strained relationship with drivers, among other things. Hopefully, Khosrowshahi's combination of dealmaking and management skills will help him navigate the above, along with managing a rambunctious board of directors (with one member currently suing another), and of course, working with Kalanick.
While the attention has been on what the hiring of Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi would mean for Uber, there is also the question of what happens to top spot at the travel giant.
Expedia isn't commenting, but we're hearing that CFO Mark Okerstrom is the logical and likely choice to take over the top spot. Okerstrom joined Expedia in 2006, a year after Khosrowshahi and has been CFO since September 2011. Before joining Expedia he was a consultant for Bain & Co. in San Francisco.
Meet Ava. She senses emotional nuance in a photo, and quickly finds others conveying the same vibe — the "emptiness" of a solitary woman, standing against a solid backdrop; a large table, bare of all but an item or two.
Ava is the intelligent invention of VSCO, an Oakland, CA., startup best known for a photo editing and sharing app that is wildly popular among teens. But she is also much more, reflecting a big new creative trend:
