The Story of Uber
Uber Technologies Inc.’s (UBER) explosive growth and constant controversy make it one of the
most fascinating companies to emerge over the past decade. The global ride-sharing
application, founded in 2009, disrupted modern transportation as we know it and at one point
grew to become the highest-valued private startup company in the world.
Ten years after its founding, Uber went public on May 9, 2019. Though the road has been
bumpy, Uber remains a major company in the ride-sharing space. In its most recent quarterly
earnings release, for Q2 fiscal year (FY) 2021, Uber reported a net income of $1.1 billion, $3.9
billion in revenue, and 1.5 billion trips on its platform.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
● The world’s largest ride-sharing company, Uber Technologies, was founded in 2009 and
quickly grew to become the world’s most valuable startup.
● Uber’s disruptive technology, explosive growth, and constant involvement in controversy
make it one of the most fascinating companies to emerge in recent years.
● Uber’s IPO was one of the most highly anticipated of the year, and the company was
valued as high as $120 billion by Wall Street investors. The company went public on
May 9, 2019, but fell flat: Uber made history with the biggest first-day dollar loss in U.S.
history.
● Since then, Uber has worked on becoming profitable and has completed some
high-profile acquisitions of companies including JUMP, Postmates, and Drizly, as well as
a partnership deal with Lime. It also sold its highly anticipated self-driving car division in
2020.
● In 2017, Uber’s corporate culture was outed for being highly hostile, sexist, and
offensive, resulting in a company-wide investigation. CEO Travis Kalanick was forced to
resign, along with more than 20 employees.
Uber History: Paris and Rapid Growth
Uber’s story began in Paris in 2008. Two friends, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp were
attending LeWeb, an annual tech conference The Economist describes as “where
revolutionaries gather to plot the future.” In 2007, both men had sold startups they co-founded
for large sums. Kalanick sold Red Swoosh to Akamai Technologies for $19 million while Camp
sold StumbleUpon to eBay (EBAY) for $75 million.
The concept for Uber was born one winter night during the conference when the pair was
unable to get a cab. Uber was founded on a single idea: “What if you could request a ride from
your phone?” Initially, the idea was for a timeshare limo service that could be ordered via an
app. After the conference, the entrepreneurs went their separate ways. However, when Camp
returned to San Francisco, he continued to be fixated on the idea and bought the domain name
UberCab.com.
UberCab: The Beginning
In 2009, Camp was still CEO of StumbleUpon, but he began working on a prototype for
UberCab as a side project. By summer of that year, Camp had persuaded Kalanick to join as
UberCab’s “chief incubator.” The service was tested in New York in early 2010 using only three
cars, and the official launch took place in San Francisco in May.
Ryan Graves, who was Uber’s general manager and an important figure in the early stages of
the company, became CEO of Uber in early 2010. In December 2010, Kalanick took over as
CEO, while Graves took on the title of general manager and senior vice president of Global
Operations.
The ease and simplicity of ordering a car fueled the app’s rising popularity. With the tap of a
button, a ride could be ordered, a GPS identified the location, and the cost was automatically
charged to the card on the user account. The San Francisco-based startup quickly became one
