SUPER PUMPED

The Battle for Uber

By Mike Isaac

“Super Pumped” is more than the story of an upstart company that destroyed the taxi industry and revolutionized the gig economy. Mike Isaac, the New York Times reporter who covered Uber, opens the action in Las Vegas, at a private Beyoncé concert exclusively for Uber employees. The book proceeds to sweep in murder, rape, suicide, misogyny and billions of dollars created and lost.

At the center of Isaac’s account stands Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder and chief executive from 2010 to 2017. Isaac depicts Kalanick as an evil bro-genius, bent on world domination through ride-sharing. A charmer when he wanted to be and a math whiz since childhood, Kalanick understood that Uber could succeed only if it grew faster than any competitor, attracting large numbers of riders and drivers in cities across the globe. He let nothing get in the way of that growth — not the livelihood of drivers, not the health and welfare of employees, not the counsel of his own advisers, not the laws and regulations of multiple states, and not the rules of Apple’s app store (which in Isaac’s account worried Kalanick more than a few pesky laws). Kalanick hired former N.S.A., F.B.I. and C.I.A. employees to spy on competitors. Kalanick wisecracked to a GQ reporter that with his success had come the ability to summon women on demand: “We call that boob-er.”

Kalanick systematically consolidated power to run Uber with near total control for years. He withheld information from investors. He and his allies held a large number of Uber’s so-called “supervoting shares” (stock with more votes per share than most common stock), and Kalanick also personally owned an enormous amount of common stock. He packed the board with friendly directors.