Dara Khosrowshahi has been widely hailed as a good choice to be Uber’s next CEO.
There’s just one problem: the actual hiring announcement still hasn’t happened yet.
Uber’s board selected the Expedia CEO to run the embattled ride-hailing startup on Sunday. As of midday Tuesday, no public hiring announcement had been made.
Uber declined to comment. Expedia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Khosrowshahi said he is still in the process of finalizing his contract with Uber, but he plans to take the job.
Khosrowshahi’s current boss, Expedia chairman Barry Diller, said on Monday that “nothing has been yet finalized.”
“But having extensively discussed this with Dara I believe it is his intention to accept,” Diller wrote in a memo to the company’s employees.
Khosrowshahi has experience running an international travel company, not unlike Uber. He oversaw a publicly traded business making him a good fit to take Uber public. And those who know Khosrowshahi say he’s the “adult” that Uber’s corporate culture sorely needs.
Khosrowshahi is also said to be a good deal maker. With the leak of Uber’s decision, and two other top candidates publicly withdrawing from consideration, Khosrowshahi is in a strong position to strike a good deal for himself.
It took Uber’s board nearly 70 days to settle on a new CEO after the resignation of its cofounder and previous CEO Travis Kalanick.
The short list of candidates included Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, and Meg Whitman, the head of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Both tweeted they would not pursue the Uber CEO role.
Immelt pulled out of the race Sunday because of problems with Uber’s board, according to a source familiar with the matter. Whitman told The Financial Times on Monday that Uber had yet to resolve Kalanick’s future role at the company and an explosive lawsuit about it.
Venture capital firm Benchmark, an early Uber investor, sued Kalanick this month in an effort to get him off the board. Among other allegations, Benchmark accused Kalanick of trying to “acquire the power to pack the Board to facilitate his desired re-appointment as Uber’s CEO.”
Those close to Khosrowshahi say he has experience balancing strong personalities like Kalanick thanks to his many years working with Diller, a media mogul.
In the Journal interview, Khosrowshahi described his relationship with Kalanick as “budding.”
Khosrowshahi may also want greater assurances that Uber’s board won’t try to roadblock his every move.
“My viewpoint is they’ve given him that mandate,” says Woody Marshall, a partner at Technology Crossover Ventures who grew up with Khosrowshahi. As Marshall puts it, “You can’t have me go into a fight with one arm tied behind my back.”
There is urgency for Uber to wrap it up. As the CEO search has dragged on, Uber’s problems have only continued to mount.
Large Uber investors have marked down their investments. The startup lost $645 million in the three months ending in June. Its board is embroiled in a public legal fight. And its rivals abroad are raising billions and banding together.