Uber Board Approves Moves to Curb Power of Ex-CEO Kalanick

The 11-member board of ride-hailing service Uber Inc. unanimously approved a $1 billion-plus investment by Japan’s SoftBank Group Inc. and several governance changes that would trim the power of former CEO Travis Kalanick.

Kalanick, who retained his board seat after being ousted in June, says he agreed to the measures for the sake of helping Uber become “a world-class public company.”

But sources tell The Wall Street Journal that the feisty founder continues to maneuver to regain control of the company. Last Friday he surprised the Uber board by exercising his right to appoint two more directors.

Those appointments will be diluted by the board’s decision to add as many as six new seats, according to a Journal source. New members would constitute two independents, a new chairman and perhaps two directors to represent SoftBank.

As expected, the board also set a 2019 deadline for launching an initial pubic offering. That will give Dara Khosrowshahi, who was appointed CEO in August, about 15 months to overcome frayed relations with customers and drivers, the departure of several top executives and a toxic corporate culture—all of which have been blamed primarily on Kalanick’s contentious management style.