Uber power struggle hampers new chief's hand at the wheel

San Francisco

THE phone calls began late on Friday among Uber's new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, and the ride-hailing company's executives, as well as board members and a raft of lawyers. They were facing an emergency.

The problem was that Travis Kalanick, Uber's former chief executive and a board member, had appointed two new directors - Ursula Burns, the former chief executive of Xerox, and John Thain, the former chief of Merrill Lynch - to the privately held company without informing them.