Uber’s President Quits After 6 Months

Jeff Jones has abruptly quit as president of Uber Technologies Inc. after six months on the job.

Some reports suggest he left after not being considered for the ride-hailing company’s new chief operating officer position. In a statement to Reuters, Jones says, "The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber.”

Reports say Kalanick is likely to leave the CEO post after Uber hires a COO. Jones had been performing some of those duties.

The online tech industry blog Recode says Jones, who quit his job as chief marketing officer for Target Corp. to join Uber last year, was repelled by Uber’s string of recent and largely self-inflict controversies.

The issues include claims of sexual harassment, driver complaints about Uber’s payment policies, a lawsuit alleging that the company stole software secrets from Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo autonomous car company, a secret software program called “greyball” that shielded Uber’s activities from regulators in markets where its service was banned and last month’s admission by CEO Travis Kalanick that he needs “leadership help.”