Hell of a ride: even a PR powerhouse couldn't get Uber on track
by Olivia Solon and Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisc from Technology | The Guardian on (#2K2GV)
Despite her formidable reputation, Rachel Whetstone - who departed Uber this week - wasn't able to shift the company's fundamental problems
When Rachel Whetstone left Google two years ago to replace David Plouffe, a former Barack Obama official, as policy and communications vice-president at Uber, it seemed like a promising Silicon Valley role.
The taxi-hailing app had a reputation for aggressive and even underhand tactics, and a CEO, in Travis Kalanick, with a reputation as a gaffe-prone "tech bro", but it was one of the fastest growing startups in the world, achieving a $50bn valuation (now almost $70bn) within just six years.
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