Council of Institutional Investors

Uber’s Governance — Investor Response

Statement of CII Executive Director Ken Bertsch on Key Governance Changes at Uber Technologies

Washington, D.C. Oct. 4, 2017 — “Uber is the latest poster child for the dangers inherent in dual-class corporate capital structures with unequal voting rights. The Council of Institutional Investors (CII) has long opposed dual-class shares at public companies because they rob shareholders of the means to hold senior managers and the board of directors accountable. While Uber is a private company, its unequal voting rights have given founder Travis Kalanick potentially unchecked power to do as he pleases because of his holdings of shares with super-voting rights—even after he stepped down as CEO. CII applauds the Uber board for revoking the super-voting shares in favor of the ‘one-share, one-vote’ structure that is widely recognized as a corporate governance best practice.”
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Click for PDF version. For media inquiries, please contact CII Editor Rosemary Lally.