One of Uber's earliest backers is leaving the board

pulse

June 22, 2017 2:19 AM

Longtime Uber backer Bill Gurley is stepping away from the company.

Benchmark partner Bill Gurley is leaving Uber's board.

As if Uber hasn't had enough turnover in recent weeks, one of its earliest backers, Bill Gurley, is leaving the board.

Gurley will be replaced with Matt Cohler, another partner at Benchmark, the venture capital firm confirmed to Business Insider on Wednesday. Gurley did not respond to a request for comment, and Uber declined to comment.

Bloomberg first reported the news of Gurley's departure earlier on Wednesday.

Gurley was an early champion of Uber and its pugnacious CEO, Travis Kalanick. His firm, Benchmark, invested in Uber in 2011, just two years after the ride hailing company launched.

In recent months, though, amid a series of scandals and controversies at the company, Gurley became a quiet advocate for change inside the company.

One of his last acts on Uber's board may have been orchestrating Kalanick's ouster. Benchmark's partners had been "hatching a plan" to convince Kalanick to abandon his CEO role, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. On Tuesday night, investors, including Benchmark, sent a letter to Kalanick asking him to resign immediately. After hours of debate later that night, he acceded to the request.

Gurley's departure would be the second change to Uber's board in the day following the CEO's resignation from the beleaguered ride-hailing company.

Earlier on Wednesday, Uber confirmed that David Trujillo, a partner at private equity firm TPG, is joining the board, replacing David Bonderman. Bonderman, a founding member of TPG, was forced to resign last Tuesday after making a sexist remark during a company-wide meeting addressing sexism.

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