Sources: Uber board will add 6 new seats, approves resolution for Uber to go public by 2019; Benchmark conditionally agrees to drop its lawsuit against Kalanick
SAN FRANCISCO — Uber's board of directors voted on Tuesday for governance changes that reshape the balance of power …
Context & Ripple Effects
Uber’s board had already been considering a governance proposal designed to curb Kalanick’s influence, and it formally accepted Kalanick’s director appointees immediately before this meeting. The new vote turns that dispute from a proposal into a larger board structure with a stated path toward an IPO.
The conditional end to Benchmark’s lawsuit removes one immediate front in the conflict between a major investor and Uber’s former chief executive, while leaving board-control questions central to the company’s next financing decisions.
First-order effects
- Uber expands its board by six seats and adopts a resolution to go public by 2019, shifting the company’s near-term agenda toward governance execution and IPO preparation.
- Benchmark conditionally agrees to drop its lawsuit against Kalanick, reducing the litigation pressure surrounding the board struggle.
Second-order effects
- Kalanick’s newly recognized directors, Thain and Burns, must operate within a substantially enlarged board rather than a smaller board shaped around his appointments.
- The board’s composition becomes more consequential for the SoftBank discussions, particularly because later coverage tied the deal to approval rules for Kalanick’s future director appointments. The proposed restriction on Kalanick-appointed directors becomes a focal point for investors and directors.
Third-order effects
- Uber’s case points to strategic investors using board design, appointment rights, and litigation settlements together to reset founder influence before a public-market transition.
- If this governance model holds, late-stage companies facing founder-investor conflict will treat board control as part of capital negotiations rather than as a separate corporate-governance issue.
The trend: Late-stage private companies are increasingly resolving founder-control disputes through board restructuring tied to financing and IPO readiness.