Uber founder resigns as CEO

SAN FRANCISCO - Travis Kalanick stepped down as chief executive of the ride-hailing giant Uber on Tuesday, the culmination of several tumultuous months and a shareholder revolt.

Kalanick, who helped founded Uber in 2009 and led it to become one of Silicon Valley's highest flying start-ups, will stay on Uber's board of directors, a company official confirmed. He was asked to resign in a letter from five major shareholders.

The resignation comes after several months of bruising scandals that arose from the company's famously hard-charging workplace culture, which many say is reflective of Kalanick himself.

The controversies include a slew of executive departures and a sexual harassment controversy that caused many women to say they would never work at Uber. In addition, the company has come under fire for using tactics to evade law enforcement and it is facing off against Google in a major trade secrets lawsuit.

The company also admitted to shortchanging New York City drivers of tens of millions of dollars in pay over the last two and a half years.

Kalanick also is facing a personal tragedy - his mother died suddenly in a boating accident in May.

In a statement published by the New York Times, which first reported the resignation, Kalanick said: 'I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investors request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight.”

The surprise resignation comes a week after Kalanick agreed to take an indefinite leave of absence, a move the board stressed was the CEO's choice. That week, Emil Michael, the company's senior vice president and a close Kalanick ally, also was pressured to resign.