Billionaire businessman Travis Kalanick co-founded Scour, Red Swoosh, and Uber with his associates. The business tycoon ranks 115th on Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. Kalanick drew the curtains on his association with the Uber company in 2017 following a series of controversy revolving around the company’s ethics. This included a truckload of sexual harassment allegations and other maladies said to be ignored by him. It will be interesting to find out lesser-known facts about him.
Travis Kalanick Biography
He was born on August 6, 1976, in Los Angeles California. Travis Kalanick attended the University of California where he studied computer engineering and business economics.
He was a member of Theta Xi fraternity at UCLA. Always inclined to business, Travis started an online file-exchange service – Scour which ended up becoming his first business. Combining studies with business was not quenching the thirst for Kalanick; He eventually quit school in 1998 to fully focus on the business. Travis made the decision to leave school alongside Micheal Todd and Vince Busam, and the trio worked with Dan Rodrigues to found Scour Inc. a multimedia search engine.
Also, Scour Exchange, a peer-to-peer file sharing service was born. Scour flourished until 2000 when a copyright infringement lawsuit was brought against it by three media bodies. This caused the establishment to file for bankruptcy in September of the same year. After Scour’s failure, Travis and Michael Todd came together to start Red Swoosh, also another peer-to-peer file sharing company. Red Swoosh grew from nothing to something with the help of dedicated workers which included their former workers at Scour.
Travis Kalanick in 2009 teamed up with Garrett Camp to form Uber. The business tycoon reveals that Camp came up with the idea after realizing that the cost of black car services could be shared with people and made affordable for all. Uber was born and Kalanick was made the mega advisor. The following year he became the CEO after succeeding former CEO Ryan Graves. However, in June 2017, Kalanick bowed out of the company taking an indefinite leave of absence.
His move came after several allegations of sexual assault were made against the company. Those allegations turned out to be implicative to the then CEO who was said to have trivialized the reports. Kalanick’s misery at the time was worsened with news of his mother’s untimely death. Despite the fact he was grieving, Benchmark Capital still demanded his resignation.
Kalanick subsequently left his seat but still remains on the company’s board of directors. The former Uber CEO in 2018 announced a new establishment, 10100 aimed at providing employment on a large scale.
His Net Worth
With a sound business mind and impeccable innovative attributes, Travis Kalanick has garnered more than life’s fortune in the course of his career. With a gigantic net worth of $5.9 billion, the business tycoon ranks 115th on Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.
After his exit from the company, Kalanick sold $1.4 billion worth of stocks amounting to almost one-third of his Uber shares after a billion dollar deal with Softbank in Japan. This reduced the company’s value up to 30 percent. Kalanick has made a lot of wise business ventures which have boosted his financial status and made him so prominent in the world of business.
Family – Parents, Siblings
Travis was born to his parents; Bonnie Renee Horowitz Kalanick, his mother and Donald Kalanick, his father. Travis’ mother who died in 2017 worked as an advertiser for the Los Angeles Daily News and his father worked as a civil engineer.
Travis Kalanick is of mixed ethnicity; his mother Bonnie was Jewish and his father Donald is of Slovakian-Austrian ethnicity. The business mogul has two half sisters, and a brother named Cory. One of his half-sisters is known as Anji, the mother of actress Allisyn Ashley Arm.
Personal Life – Wife or Girlfriend
The business mogul is so tied up with his work that it is beginning to seem to some that he has little time to think about making a family. Travis’ Uber mishap drew him lots of attention that people started inquiring about the personal life of the business owner.
He is said to be in a relationship with Angie You. The couple purchased a house in Castro, San Francisco. They nicknamed the townhouse ‘The Jam Pad’ and created a Twitter account for it. Travis and Angie are not a married although fans are envisaging that something more would happen.
Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.
