Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Expedia, has been chosen as a new head of Uber in a surprising turn after board members considered two other stalwarts of the industry. The step comes after a weekend of frantic meetings with two other candidates, Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprises, and Jeff Immelt, the departing chairman of GE.
Khosrowshahi, a Persian-American has run Expedia since 2005. He was an unexpected and lesser-known choice. His interest in the position was principally kept undisclosed until today.
But Khosrowshahi is well-liked and admired inside Silicon Valley. He has led a huge expansion of the online travel business to more than 60 countries. Khosrowshahi is also a vocal critic of Donald Trump and his travel ban against Muslim-Americans.
Uber is the highly-valued start-up of Silicon Valley over the past decade. It is expected to move toward a huge public stock offering in future.
