from Hacker News

David Bonderman Resigns from Uber Board

by ckelly on 6/14/17, 1:28 AM with 83 comments

• by aresant on 6/14/17, 2:33 AM

  So Bonderman made an overtly sexist, diminutive comment about a new FEMALE board member at a meeting held SPECIFICALLY to address Uber's inherent culture & sexism issues?

  I'm not sure whether watching HBO's Silicon Valley or just pulling up HN has given me more belly laughs at the inanity of the current state of tech over this past 12 months.

• by pgodzin on 6/14/17, 2:26 AM

  Really can't make this up. The board has spent months trying to figure out how to deal with their culture issues, and minutes into the all-hands presenting their findings, he says a disparaging offhand comment about women.

• by danblick on 6/14/17, 2:12 AM

  I wonder if Uber's investors have an unusual perspective on women's issues:

  https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/3561e0558d4fa07f0dc...

• by redm on 6/14/17, 2:21 AM

  On one hand, we live in an age that highlights and elevates any remarks made to a point that there are serious real world repercussions.

  On the other hand, the internet offers a layer of perceived anonymity that causes people to say things they never would, or should, in person. Things that they would be ashamed if that had to repeat to peers, in person.

  It's a strange time to be alive.

• by lancewiggs on 6/14/17, 1:58 AM

  The right thing to do. He needs to be replaced by a woman, and to Ariana's point they need several on the board. Plenty of work required to change the toxic culture at Uber.

• by robbiemitchell on 6/14/17, 2:03 AM

  All thanks to the leaked audio from the meeting (6:40): https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-ubers-hands-meeting-tr...

• by ericzawo on 6/14/17, 2:48 AM

  This was the right move.

  On another note it's getting harder and harder to separate the news out of Uber from satire. Watching the car accident continue over again at head office feels like I'm sometimes caught reading The Onion.

• by BigJono on 6/14/17, 2:05 AM

  Preparing to be bombarded with downvotes for this, but resigning over such a remark seems like an overreaction. His apology seems sincere, that should be enough.

  On the scale of things said about women by men in power this is about a 2/10, there's many much more egregious examples of sexism out there for people to be upset about.

• by jbuild on 6/14/17, 2:29 AM

  What do you think of adding Marissa Mayer to Uber's board of directors? She seems to be suited to run companies in Uber's position.

• by rubyfan on 6/14/17, 2:03 AM

  I'm not sure I fully understand the point he was trying to make? Was it a dig at Huffington not adding value?

• by staticautomatic on 6/14/17, 2:20 AM

  By now this is starting to be downright hilarious. Fuck all these folks and the Ubers they rode into town in.

• by hashmymustache on 6/14/17, 3:23 AM

  It seems like teachable moments have become fireable offenses. I understand the seriousness of the issue and context, but is this really worth the level of outrage it has received?

  Edit: Curious at the downvotes for an honest attempt at a reasonable discussion on the issue. Such are the times.