Travis Kalanick - Ceo Uber

Travis Cordell Kalanick (born August 6, 1976) is an American computer programmer and businessman. He is the co-founder of the peer-to-peer file sharing company Red Swoosh and the transportation network company Uber.

In 2014, he entered the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans at position 290, with an estimated net worth of $6 billion.

Early life and education

Kalanick was born on August 6, 1976, in Los Angeles, California to Bonnie Horowitz Kalanick and Donald Edward Kalanick. He lived in Northridge, California, where he graduated from Granada Hills High School and later enrolled in college at the University of California, Los Angeles, to study computer engineering. His mother, Bonnie, worked in retail advertising for the Los Angeles Daily News, and his father, Donald E. Kalanick, was a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles. His mother, Bonnie Renee (Bloom), is of three quarters Ashkenazi Jewish background (her own maternal grandfather was of German and Irish descent). Travis’ maternal grandfather was Morris Bloom (also known as Maurice Buddy Bloom, the son of Frank Bloom and Rose Winegart). Frank was a Polish Jewish immigrant, and was the son of Morris Bloom. Rose was a Russian Jewish immigrant.

Travis’ maternal grandmother was Shirley Anita Ehni (the daughter of Charles Joseph Ehni and Tillie Kohn). Charles was the son of Charles William Ehni, whose parents were German, and of Anna Haver, whose parents were Irish. Travis’ maternal grandmother Tillie was the daughter of Samuel “Sam” Kohn, a German Jewish immigrant, and Esther Eppstein, a Polish Jewish immigrant.

His father, Donald Edward Kalanick, is of Slovak descent. Travis’ paternal grandparents were Michael Andrew “Mike” Kalanick (the son of Ján Kalanin, later John Kalanick, and Anna Polanská) and Mary Zeyock (the daughter of Jiří “George” Zeyock and Anna “Annie” Androsová). All of Travis’ paternal great-grandparents were Slovak immigrants. His father's family is Catholic with Slovak and Austrian roots. He has two half-sisters, one of whom is Allisyn Ashley Arm's mother Anji, and a brother, Cory, who is a firefighter.

Career

Scour

In 1998, Travis Kalanick, along with Michael Todd and Vince Busam, dropped out of UCLA to help Dan Rodrigues found Scour Inc., a multimedia search engine, and Scour Exchange, a peer-to-peer file sharing service. In 2000, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) brought a lawsuit against Scour, alleging copyright infringement. In September of that year, Scour filed for bankruptcy to protect itself from the lawsuit.

Red Swoosh

In 2001, with Michael Todd, Kalanick started a new company called Red Swoosh, another peer-to-peer file-sharing company. Red Swoosh software took advantage of increased bandwidth efficiency on the Internet to allow users to transfer and trade large media files, including music files and videos. The company also got much help from former Scour employees.

In 2007, Akamai Technologies acquired the company for $19 million.

Uber

In 2009, along with Garrett Camp, Kalanick founded Uber, a mobile app that connects passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services. Uber operates in 66 countries and in more than 507 cities around the world. Uber faced some controversy in some cities in North America, such as Washington D.C., Chicago, Toronto, and New York City. The company faces fierce competition from similar services and "clone companies" in cities such as London.

Other

He speaks at conferences and business events, including TechCrunch Disrupt, Tech Cocktail, DLD, and LeWeb.

In December 2016, it was announced that Kalanick will join President Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum as a corporate adviser. However, in February 2017, after much criticism for saying he would continue to engage President Trump's agenda after the executive order banning refugees, Kalanick announced in an email to Uber employees that he would step down from the council.

Personal life

Kalanick dated Gabi Holzwarth for two years. They broke up in 2016.

Kalanick has referred his increased success with women after founding Uber as "Boob-er", "women on demand".

A video was released where Kalanick was arguing with an Uber driver during a heated debate in February of 2017.

References

External links

• AngelList
• CrunchBase
• Travis Kalanick on Twitter
• Resistance Is Futile, by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin