Just a few days after venture capital firm Benchmark asked former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick to leave the ride-hailing company’s board, a number of Uber shareholders have hit back and say Benchmark should in fact leave Uber’s board.
In an email published by Axios, a group of Uber shareholders claim that Benchmark’s actions against Kalanick only worsen the public perception of the firm, thus harming shareholder value.
Additionally, the shareholders expressly state that Benchmark should remove itself from Uber’s board of directors and divest enough of its shares to relinquish its rights to a position on the board. Furthermore, the group stipulate Benchmark sells a minimum of 75 per cent of its holdings and that there are investors ready to immediately purchase these shares.
“Benchmark's investment of $27M is worth $8.4 billion today and you are suing the founder, the company and the employees who worked so hard to create such unprecedented value. We ask you to please consider the lives of these employees and allow them to continue to grow this company in peace and make it thrive. These actions do the opposite,” the email states.
Benchmark has yet to respond to the threats and failed to say if it will sell its 13 per cent stake in Uber.
In its own lawsuit against Kalanick, Benchmark claims that the former CEO signed an agreement stating he would relinquish two of his three board seats after stepping down but that he has failed to do so.
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