Super Pumped (2022) s01e07 Episode Script

Previously, on
"Super Pumped"
It's what you call triage,
Travis.
You're the guy dying
of liver failure.
I'm the guy trying to help
you kick the bottle.
I'm alive and doing the thing.
I brought in Holder.
I'm solving this.
Real American heroes.
Yeah, how cool that
both of my boys are kickin' ass.
Yeah.
Go faster!
This is Bonnie Kalanick.
Please leave me a message,
and I'll get back to you.
Thanks.
What are your recommendations?
I have them outlined.
It is not a short list.
Sexism, lying,
lack of diversity.
These are all bad enough,
but it's only the beginning.
The Holder Report specifically
recommends your removal.
It's always a friend
who does it.
I cannot let anything
take me down, not even you.
I'll make sure the
Board knows you took care of it.
They'll endorse a leave
of absence for you.
How long you been
planning all this?
Wait, is this legal?
It's not really illegal
if the laws are bullshit
in the first place.
You ever heard of Grey ball?
Opening theme music
The God-child
that comes to change the world
isn't born all pink-cheeked
in a fleecy diaper.
He comes out wailing
and covered in slime
like all the rest.
Some motherfuckers
want to kill him on sight.
And if industrious city
and state regulator
motherfuckers have their way,
yellow cabs
might still dominate.
Did Uber do it all
the right way?
I think it's clear the answer
to that is, "Fuck no."
Were they using secret
and perhaps illegal technology
to fool those regulators
who were trying to enforce
those annoying fucking laws
preventing unlicensed
livery cars
from picking up passengers?
And did Uber find its ass
on the hot seat
due to these allegations?
Hell.
Like I said,
covered in slime,
fighting to survive.
But I'm glad we talked.
Oh, I.
Oh, I'm still alive.
Yeah, I
- So, should we call him?
- No.
- Well, can I call him?
- No.
Fuck.
Oh, this is bad.
Ain't good. Grey ball.
What the fuck?
What were you guys thinking?
Or was it the standard not
thinking that seems to have
Survival. Winning. Growth.
Trying not to get fired.
Those are the basic thought
patterns following TK's orders.
Anticipating his other orders
All the shit you picked TK
to fucking get done.
We were the "get 'er done"
squad, man.
Yeah, I never once,
not once, told any
TK gives the order.
Emil seconds it.
Of course, now they're not here
to field the questions
or give the new instructions
or clean it up.
Oh, shit.
I mean, if we're rattled, fuck.
Fuck.
Look, you can just feel
the panic
coursing through all of them.
No one really seems to know what
to do without those guys here.
Without TK, uh, truth is
I don't know what to do.
Yeah, I see that.
So can I call him?
No!
And if TK reaches out to you,
do not answer that phone, man.
No victory down that path.
No honor. Not now.
Only more destruction.
Lord, make me
a channel of thy peace.
That where there is hatred,
I may bring love.
That where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit
of forgiveness.
That where there is discord,
I may bring harmony.
That where there is error,
I may bring truth.
That where there is doubt,
I may bring faith.
That where there is despair,
I may bring hope.
Good morning, Bill.
Is it?
I know why you're here.
We're here because of all of it.
And now, Grey ball.
Shit.
Please.
That Grey ball story
is shaking some shit up.
Yeah, I'm in
the "shaking shit up" game.
Your story is just
the beginning.
There's gonna be more fallout.
You know that, right?
You see me packing
my laptop, right?
You have something firm?
A bunch "off the record,"
"didn't hear it from me."
Yeah. Someone's gonna fall.
Is it Kalanick?
This latest news,
in addition to the rest of it,
is the breaker.
The company looks like
a runaway tech weapon
run by some kind of miscreant.
Fidelity's client base
is broad and varied,
representative of
our entire country.
There's a lot of competition
out there.
Our difference-maker
is trust.
Our clients trust us.
And as head of the firm,
that's not something
I'm willing to risk
on Travis Kalanick any longer,
who's proven himself
publicly untrustworthy.
Well, I know you agree.
I understand he built
this incredible company,
and that's a rare thing.
More than rare.
Sure.
It's even beyond
a business cycle.
It's a once-in-a-generation
event.
But, Bill, you and I
are from the same mold,
and we're supposed to focus
on things bigger than profits.
On culture.
And Travis bred a toxic one,
and you know it.
You get into this to make money.
I mean
there are a lot of
different ways to make money.
You get into this to
to build something.
To back someone often
someone very young.
To empower them to
to build a world that was not
there before them.
You sure as hell
don't get into it
to boost them up,
just to butcher them.
It's a difficult decision,
that's all.
Come on, hoss.
You've already made it.
As you would say to me,
you do the thing
even if it's hard
because it's right.
He's got loyalists on the Board,
and he's got those
super-voting shares.
You know this.
This is gonna be very difficult
to execute.
That's why you're the man
to do it.
Uh, no, I do not want to talk
to fucking Olivia Lungociu.
Especially today.
Give me Hazel baker, though.
Call her cell.
Don't go through
the office line.
I don't want them to know
we're rolling calls.
Shit. Okay, uh, just get me, um,
whoever's reachable in comms.
Yo. Good, yeah. Hey, it's TK.
Listen, I know I'm on leave,
but this is crucial.
It's just too important to
You're not supposed to.
You know, I'm still the boss,
so if you don't do it,
I'll just find somebody else
who will.
By the way, I'm the guy
that voluntarily went on leave.
Voluntarily,
as in my choice.
I stepped back so that I could
step in again when I have to.
No, no, I decide what is
supposed to happen,
and that statement
needs to hit my phone
within the next ten seconds,
okay?
Now, hang up and do it.
Hey, Pen, can you follow up
and make sure this fucking idiot
sends me what they're supposed
to send me?
Great, thank you.
Get me Gil.
Gil, what is up, dude? Listen
you and I both know you were
hoping to hear my voice today
to guide you through all this
fucking bullshit, right?
Nobody is gonna
find out anything, man.
Just listen to me, listen
Gil, Gil, Gil, Gil,
listen to me.
Okay, I don't give a shit
what they said.
I'm still CEO.
I'm still on the board.
I'm still the stockholder
with the controls.
You're gonna take my call and do
what is best for the company.
Thank you for your condolences.
Really does a heart good.
Here's what I need.
It was a really
nice service, Dad.
I know you wanted
to be there.
We couldn't wait, though.
Felt wrong.
It's just the way she would have
wanted it, you know?
- Hi.
- Hey.
You know, your limo got here
before me.
I saw it parked
out there.
What were you doing?
Rolling calls?
No, I was getting
myself together
so I wouldn't snot
all over Dad.
Fuck.
Look, I didn't want to argue,
all right? Not today.
Yeah, I didn't want
any petty jealousies.
Not today.
Okay.
Ask. Dare you.
Mom told you before.
No, you gotta say it.
If you have the balls.
Go ahead. Ask.
I'm in a jam
you know you can fix,
- and you're gonna make me ask?
- Just say the words.
I mean, if it matters
enough to you, you will, right?
I appreciate you picking up
the funeral expenses, okay?
I do.
But it's not enough.
I got overextended.
I need help.
Money help.
At a time like this.
Mom's dead,
Dad is barely breathing.
Man!
Have some class.
- I'll lose my house.
- So let me get this straight.
Me doing my business
out in the car, that's bad,
but the money I get from it,
that's good.
And so is you asking me
for some.
Fair.
Here's a novel idea.
Why don't you try
being a person?
I don't loan money.
I give it freely
to friends and family
who love me and get me.
So, I'll have to say no to you.
But here's a suggestion.
As a possible revenue
generator?
Why don't you license
the footage of that cat video?
- You're an asshole.
- Oh, no. Right.
The cat fucking died.
I gotta go.
Well, whoever told you that
Off the record?
Well, good.
I can't say they're lying
or confirm.
But I'm not in the business
of publicly embarrassing
my own people.
One, it's not right.
And two, it doesn't exactly make
the second version of Travis
want to do business with me.
So, if you'd like to confirm,
call me for comment.
Otherwise, Olivia,
please don't.
All right, everybody.
First matter.
Travis's leave of absence,
one that we hoped
would have teeth
and set our company culture
on the road to recovery
has turned out to be
nothing short of a sham.
We know he's still
contacting folks.
Engineers have met a data
saying that he's even getting
into the code.
Can he do that?
I didn't even know
he knew how to do that.
Well, he could figure out
pretty much anything.
That was him right there,
wasn't it?
You know, I saw this movie
the other day.
Life, with Ryan Reynolds.
He's on the Space Station,
and there's this
this tiny alien that gets
picked up by a spacecraft.
It seems like
a miracle at first.
Well, it turns out
that this thing,
it's hardwired to feed
and survive.
Well, it turns out
to be a threat,
so they try to contain it
in this, uh, in this box
but it grows
in size and strength.
And then it started
killing everybody.
Well, their last hope is they
lure it into an escape pod,
they shoot it out
into deep space,
and they save humanity,
what have you.
The point is
Travis is the alien.
He will destroy Uber,
our reputations,
our livelihoods,
and we will be screwed.
And if we don't put him in a box
and keep him there,
we'll all be dead.
What kind of a box
are we talking about here?
Because this leave of absence
was a joke,
and as everyone knows,
he can't just be fired.
Not with the shares
and bylaws as is.
Even with my weight
of the shares,
all I can do is block him,
not remove.
That's why we have
to have him resign.
Never gonna happen.
He loves Uber.
He breathes it like air.
What What's the
The leverage?
The press.
They're all over this.
Travis is concerned
about how he's gonna look
when he gets kicked out
of his own company,
so we draft two letters.
One, our grievances.
All of them.
And we demand he resign.
The second one's
his resignation.
We frame it as him stepping down
in order to deal
with family matters.
But we let him know
that if he signs one,
the press will never see
the other.
And if he doesn't,
what about then?
Well, I guess we convert
the preferred stock to common,
and all the investors
and the employees get votes.
A proxy fight?
At the cost of us losing our
dividends and claims on assets?
I'd say that's the nuclear
fucking option.
It is.
And that's exactly why
we have got to get him
to step down.
What the hell happens
in that movie with
the alien anyway, Bill?
They able to send that thing
back to space?
No, it landed in the water
on Earth
and some fishermen
opened it up, and
that's where the movie ended.
I need you in on this with me.
Not halfway, not just forward
facing, but for real.
Arianna, I know how much
this matters to you.
I truly believe
that in the long run,
this is what's best
for Travis too.
I like that you make
this appeal to me
knowing I care about him
holistically,
but I have a duty to do
the right thing for the company
and for Travis.
And I will.
So you're with us then?
Garrett?
We have to have your support.
Like you said,
you have enough shares
to block anything
the rest of us want to do
if you line up with Travis.
Yeah, well,
it's important to remember
that every single thing
Travis Kalanick did
was to further Uber.
It's important to remember
what the world looked like
before Uber.
It's important to remember this
was a worthy revolution.
They're all worthy.
That's why they happen.
But most revolutionaries
don't become the best leaders.
They become fascists.
And one by one
throughout history,
they end up getting rid
of horrible regimes.
They set out to do better,
but they end up doing worse.
Until they get unseated
by the next monster.
And if you think
I'm exaggerating,
you name me one group of rebels
who didn't become fascists.
Well, the American
Revolutionaries.
Bill, Uber itself
was the revolution.
The people running it
hardly matter at this point.
Yeah, TK, he has to go.
He likes it too much.
- What?
- The winning.
The power. The carnage.
If he's left in place,
all the treasure gained
in the uprising will be lost.
You know, we'd better
draft this letter.
I need to know for myself
just how bad it is
before I go along
with this.
In case you don't know,
my name is Arianna Huffington,
and I'm a board member
of this company.
And I'm here to listen.
Yes, ma'am.
Deliver the letters.
You know what this means.
As do you.
He's not in the office,
but he's back in town.
His assistant knows where.
Deliver the letters.
We're a go.
I'm not gonna be able
to get within 50 yards of him.
I'm gonna need you two
to deliver those.
Yeah, about these letters, Bill.
We're not up for it.
You don't want
to deliver them?
We don't want them
delivered at all.
Look, fellas, I understand
this is a shit detail,
but let me tell you
Not sure you do understand.
You're you.
Your Bill fricking Gurley.
You've got standing
in this business.
Money. You'll be fine.
But we're us.
Closer to the beginning.
This isn't gonna be
our last fund,
and if we deliver an execution
letter to a founder
If we go out in the world
with Benchmark on our résumés
after doing this,
they're not gonna let us
in a single door.
All right.
Complaint lodged.
But you know what?
I've got enough wood
on my mallet
to know what you seem
to be missing.
The difference maker
is reputation.
You gotta walk it like you talk
it, because, fellas, so few do.
I'm gonna need you to take
those and put those in his hand,
or those résumés that
you're so concerned about
are gonna come into play
a hell of a lot sooner
than what you think.
Mine included.
The testimony that Mr. Comey
has submitted
for today's hearing
is very disturbing.
For example, on January 27th,
after summoning
Director Comey to dinner,
the president appears to have
threatened the director's job
while telling him, quote,
"I need loyalty.
I expect loyalty."
He asked specifically
of loyalty in the context
of asking me to stay.
Wow.
A loyalty test.
I mean, that is an absurdity,
of course, coming from
a president to an FBI director,
legal constitutional questions,
whatever.
But, I mean,
kind of get it, right?
A guy sees his enemies
lining up against him,
he wants to know
who his allies are.
Which is to say
- Mr. Kalanick
- "TK" to my friends.
TK, I appreciate you kept
this interview on the books,
even if it is at a hotel
instead of the offices, but
No buts. No nothing.
I need a CFO, Malcolm.
Someone to ride herd
over the numbers
and placate the fucking Board.
I need a strong number two,
a loyal number two.
I will need that as soon
as I step back
into actively managing
the company.
And when might that happen?
Is there a date for your return?
It's really my call.
Whenever I feel they've grown
enough without me.
They don't need to call me for
every little detail, you know.
They need to take
some initiative.
They need to make some decisions
and stand by them.
I thought this would be
a good chance to give them that.
And, look, I'm not gonna ask
for loyalty and honesty
without giving it back,
so I'll also say this:
I needed a reset.
Change in perspective.
So have you set a timetable
to go back?
Because when would this
start for me?
I haven't picked you yet,
brother.
If there are other interviews
lined up,
I can step out.
And you should be begging me
for this gig.
I mean,
you have the credentials,
but do you have the hunger?
I don't know.
I'm not sure it's for me.
Well, if that was
a loyalty test, you failed.
And know this: In a few weeks,
I am roaring back,
and I will have a loyal
fucking lieutenant by my side
snapping necks,
and it could have been you
if you had the fucking nut sack
for it.
Thanks for meeting me, TK.
You don't get to call me
that anymore.
Reconsidered already?
Smart.
Let's do this interview right.
Well, now I know how Neo felt
when Agent Smith showed up.
Except I'm the one
in the black suit.
Nah, we're not here
to kill you.
Just to encourage you
to kill yourself.
In a professional sense only,
of course.
Yeah, I don't believe that
for a fucking second.
It would be great for you
if I'd off myself, right?
You wouldn't have to hand me
whatever's in that
and face my reaction to it.
We've been authorized
and empowered by Uber's board
to present you with these.
To present you
with this opportunity.
Wow. You just made
the word "opportunity"
sound like a eulogy.
- That's a special gift.
- Read it, man.
So Bill didn't have the stones
to come over himself.
The thinking was, we all
you know, the three of us here
could just do this
without personal rancor,
without vitriol,
without dredging up history.
There's some incendiary shit
in here.
What are you trying to do,
fucking embarrass me?
Embarrass the company?
No one wants to.
That's what this is for.
Sign it, TK.
And we'll be gone from here,
and you can move on.
What is there
in what you know about me
and/or my history
that makes you think
I would ever sign
this fucking bullshit?
Well, it's more about your
future than it is your history.
I mean, your past actions
got us here, no doubt.
But if you want
to move forward,
if you want the company to move
forward, this is the way.
You've been given
until 6:00 p.m.
to sign and step down quietly.
If you do so,
we promise that the press
will never hear
about any of this.
About how it's not really
a resignation, but an ouster.
Otherwise,
everyone will find out.
You will be publicly humiliated,
and you will have
a very hard time
ever raising money
for anything again.
Wow.
You know, that would work
if you had any leverage,
but you don't.
You can't ouster me.
I control the Board vote
with my shares.
If you think I'm scared
of public reaction,
think about this:
I'll go first.
I'll go to the fucking press.
New York Times.
Wall Street Journal.
I'm gonna crush Gurley and you,
and the rest
of you bean counters
for making this move
and failing.
You guys are gonna be like
the limp dick dudes
in a gang bang video
standing by the wall
trying to work up a chubby while
the real men fuck the porn star.
Hopeless, pathetic,
and caught on film forever.
- Jesus.
- Whoa, Travis.
The Board can't force me out.
You know that.
Gurley definitely knows that.
And yet, here we stand,
with the resignation letter
we very much
expect you to sign.
So
Yeah.
Okay, tell me the rest.
The board members,
they're prepared
to convert shares,
broaden the voting base.
What might be referred to
as the nuclear option.
That would be horrible for them.
That would make them
basically powerless.
It's like River Kwai.
At a certain point,
if the only way to win the war
is to bring down the bridge,
you do it.
Even if you might die
in the process.
They and we
believe this is the only way
to save the company.
There's only one person
in this room
who has proved again and again
that he knows what's best
for this company,
and that person is the one
who built it into an empire.
And like almost all empires,
the very things that built it
will destroy it
if they aren't willing
to shift to the new realities
of the new world they created.
Now, we aren't here
to argue this shit out, man.
We're here to give you the
chance to save your reputation,
to save the company you love,
and to have some fucking dignity
in defeat.
Dignity in defeat
is what losers hang on to
to forget that
that's what they are.
You have the letter.
If you sign it,
the press never finds out why.
If you don't, you will still
be kicked out of the company,
but the world
will know everything.
You will be the one
who looks impotent.
Your choice.
Sign the fucking letter.
Before you talk,
I want you to breathe.
So you knew about it.
I can imagine
it is quite the jolt.
Did you assent to this?
Did you join?
Travis, it is important
to focus on right now.
On this moment.
How it got here,
that is the autopsy
we will do later.
But now, you have to consider
not your own emotions
or not only
your own emotions,
but how to serve Uber
and the teams of people
you put together here.
Yeah, well, I think fast,
as you know,
so I've done
all that already,
but what I need from you
is to back me
as you have always done.
I need to know
that I have your support.
My support for you,
holistically, in all ways,
is never in doubt.
I said the same to Bill Gurley
not long ago.
Okay, I can count on that?
You can always count on me.
But, you know,
thinking quickly,
even for you,
isn't always best.
Perhaps if we
talk it through together,
we will land
at the right decision,
the right process,
the right approach.
Yeah, we will have time
to do that
after I crush these fuckers,
but right now,
I gotta rally the troops.
I'm gonna lock in my allies.
So, thank you, Arianna.
Talk to you soon.
They're trying to oust me.
You believe that shit?
My mom is barely in the ground
Trav, why are you here?
What can I do for you?
You know a lot of those guys
on the board.
Garret, Graves. They like you.
They respect you.
I want to reach out to them,
tell them to stand down.
You've disempowered me
with all of them.
But luckily,
you don't need them.
Or Uber.
Your shares make you
a rich man.
Whether you sell them now
in the private market,
or wait until
the company goes public,
it's just varying shades
of rich.
And I know
a half a dozen companies
that you could step in
and run and grow.
Hold on
Okay, look, you're still getting
your advisor shares, all right?
Full fucking value.
You know, I always thought
that the childish,
destructive part of you
would be pulled up
by the brilliant business side,
that you'd evolve,
but it went the other way.
I cannot believe I'm getting
this shit from you right now.
Today. You've always at my back.
You've always
Don't say "ride or die."
I don't want to hear that shit.
Because I was.
I have been.
But were you?
At some point, you decided
that you didn't want someone
who would challenge you.
You wanted something else.
Her.
Because why?
When you looked at me,
it reminded you of before?
Before you were you?
Of your failures?
You didn't want to be held
accountable anymore,
so you chose an accessory.
And oh, by the way,
I was suggesting that you
sign on at another company
because despite being a jerk,
you're a hell
of a business operator.
I am more than some
fucking operator,
I am a founder.
And I already have a company.
Can't talk to you, TK.
You know this.
I know, but I need you, bro.
This is the time.
This is the call.
This is when you finally prove
you got my back
and that my faith in you
was warranted.
It was. It is.
But like you always said,
Uber was the thing.
Right?
Every decision,
all about Uber.
Yeah, what could be more Uber
than helping me
save fucking Uber?
That's the most Uber thing ever,
right?
And you're on the inside, man.
You are listened to.
And you only have
your voting shares
because I gave them to you.
Right? Show me the lie
in any of that.
No lies.
Then this is what
we're gonna do.
But I don't know, TK.
I don't think I can do
what you want me to do.
Things are pretty
out of control right now.
No, not pretty out of control.
Shit is totally out of control.
Agreed. Let's get it
fucking under control.
If we band together,
we take a stand,
they see that they cannot
move us,
they will fold like a fucking
Tent?
Like a sucker at a poker table
when Texas Dolly
shows him the nuts
for the deed to his house.
Sad and silent
and gutted forever.
That is what we can do
to Gurley and Drummond
and the rest
of these motherfuckers!
No.
No, it's gone too far.
I can't line up with you.
I gotta lay back
and stick with the company.
You have to stick
with the company?
I am the fucking company!
You answered a goddamn tweet
with another tweet,
and I made you CEO!
And I kept you in the company,
even though we saw
in five minutes
you couldn't do the CEO job,
and I had to step in
and do all of it!
The strategic work!
The scut work!
The fucking work!
I'd say "Et tu, Brute,"
but you'd probably think it was
a fucking Dave Matthews lyric!
Well, thinking about it now,
maybe Caesar deserved
what he got, man.
Oh, deserved?
And what do you think
you deserve?
I made you
a fucking billionaire,
and you're sticking the knife
between my ribs
to the fucking handle
with a smile on your face.
I'm not smiling.
Yeah, you tell yourself that,
and maybe it'll help you
sleep at night.
Oh, and fuck you!
How'd he take it?
Not well.
As expected.
But he did take it?
Yeah.
He said he'd let us know
by end of day.
Goddamn it.
Every minute he drags this out,
the chances of a leak
and us looking like fuck-ups
increase.
Whoo! Yeah!
Whoo! Let's go!
Hey, Camp!
All right, um, sub?
My man.
TK.
Look, no one wanted this
to end up here.
Yeah, I can tell you're really
burdened by it.
You almost short-armed
that chicken wing
you threw down field.
Oh no, wait,
you nailed it,
'cause you're not thinking
about me at all.
Well, what use would that be,
brother?
I'm out here on the field,
and out here, I'm an air bender.
At Uber, on Uber calls,
I'm dealing with Uber shit.
- I'm Uber brass, right?
- Right. That's why I exist,
so you can be an air bender.
Because I am never
not dealing with Uber shit.
That's the pact we made
all those fucking years ago.
Can't go back on it now.
Things happen. Things change.
Things don't just change.
We make them change.
Or we stop them from changing.
We have the agency.
That's what makes us
who we are.
That's why we've been able to do
everything that we've done,
and we're not finished.
Entropy. Inertia.
Forward motion.
It's the nature
of the world, man.
The sooner you realize
what can't be changed,
the sooner
you'll have some peace.
I don't want peace.
I want war.
I'm built for that, and I wage
it better than anybody.
Yeah, well, maybe just find
a quiet place in the grass
or on some trail,
and like
just let that all go.
Dude, this is my fucking life.
It's not some ashram.
I'm losing my company.
It was never your company.
It wasn't your idea.
It was mine.
And you weren't
the fucking founder, I was.
Wow.
You loved saying that,
didn't you, air bender?
Look at you. You're still
shaking from the adrenaline hit.
I bet that threw off
more endorphins
than five years of your fucking
wilderness walks.
Nah.
See, it's not how I'm built.
I don't get off on the conflict
or the ego or the power.
That's why I'm still at Uber
and you won't be.
Let's go. Come on, let's go!
I want to show you something.
How did you get that?
I don't know.
Encrypted email came in.
Hidden address.
Confirm they're real.
I can't do that.
I'm aware of the Hobson's choice
you've all given Travis.
That if he willingly resigns
I can't speak to any of this,
Olivia.
Then let me.
I know promises
were made to Travis.
We're off the record still, yes?
We are.
If he resigns
I see no further reason
to punish him.
Because your interests
will have been served.
Your company saved.
Perfectly said.
But if you think
about the broader interests
You mean for your career,
Olivia.
After you break the story?
Sure.
It'll be good for me.
But I meant,
what about your responsibility?
If Travis gets to just resign
without a public accounting,
then what stops the next guy
sitting in that chair
from acting just like him?
And if you let that happen,
you're co-conspirators,
like it or not.
I need you to confirm,
or I can't run it.
So yeah, while there
aren't many of us,
those of us who are here
are pretty bad ass.
And we've just got to hang in
and stick together,
and we'll make it.
That's what I came here
to share with you.
If you go home, they win.
If you leave
and go somewhere else, they win.
If you switch industries,
they win.
So be better.
Be smarter, tougher, grittier.
And more fucking valuable
until you are
utterly undeniable
and you can't be removed even
with a pickaxe and a chisel.
And once we do some of that,
then we can talk
about remaking it.
Thanks.
Oh, great, thank you so much
for organizing this.
We should be in touch.
What the fuck?
Did you track me here
through the app?
I heard you're still
all up in the code.
No, just Find My Friends.
We're linked.
Well, that's gonna change.
Look, Austin,
these guys are all
bailing on me,
but I can still
run this company,
and you know that.
But I need you behind me,
'cause with you behind me,
I get the grunts behind me.
And once the Board sees that,
they'll back down.
So I came to find you,
because I need you.
I need you to help me
organize everybody.
You and me, man, together.
We can
Can't.
Even you, huh?
I would never do anything
to hurt you.
What the fuck do you call this?
I guess I call it
the new reality,
one where the results
don't make up for everything
that helped to get them.
So, you want to just kill them
with kindness.
Pass out little paper cups
of juice,
roll out the mats
for nap time?
Maybe we just treat them
like people.
Oh, so you got
a better fucking way?
No.
Just saying
we'd better find one.
You brought them with you?
You are exhausted.
Of course you are.
I am exhausted just thinking
about what you've been through.
You know,
no one else
sees a real person
when they look at me.
Well, for a long time,
you didn't want them to.
You wanted them
to see a sector.
An industry.
A unicorn.
But unicorns
don't need downtime,
because they don't exist.
Human beings do.
Do you just have this stuff
at the ready all the time?
When I care about someone,
I think about them
and what they need
and their situation.
Then it just comes to me.
Well, it's served
you well, the
The whole "person" thing.
I like to think
it serves all of us well.
I didn't serve her well.
My mom.
That is one thing
that is definitely
not your fault.
No, I was supposed to be there.
I should have been there,
but these fuckers kept me
so occupied with bullshit
that now she's gone.
They were trying to kill me,
they ended up killing her.
How'd I let her die?
I mean, fuck! What
Why would I let myself
get so focused
that I forget about her, and
- And what kind of man?
- Shh! Travis.
You're almost there.
You're almost ready to let
You are letting go.
No, I'm not.
I'm not letting go of anything.
You know, when I tell you
to breathe,
there's a scientific basis
to it.
Come.
Sit again.
The somatic system
responds to the quantity
of carbon dioxide
in your bloodstream.
This regulates it.
Not looking
to be regulated.
You're already breathing better
just sitting here with me now.
- Aren't you?
- I know. Yeah, I am.
Because I won't fight with you.
It's not something I do.
So you can let the guard
all the way down.
Continue the letting go.
You have to.
If I let my guard down,
then the enemy troops
can just march in.
Travis!
Is that such a bad thing?
You are still owning a huge
percentage of this company.
You are still the guy
who did this.
Now, you can be the guy
who does the next thing.
And let these fuckers win
after everything they did?
They are going to win.
They've won.
The question is only the terms
of that victory.
I see this now.
And if you allow yourself
to think,
you will see it too.
So what?
What do you think would be
acceptable terms for me?
I think you step down.
The press never hears about the
meeting with Cohler and Fenton.
It goes out as Travis Kalanick,
in the wake of the death
of his mother,
has decided that he has made
Uber so strong, so powerful,
that it can thrive
in his absence
and that it is time
to focus on himself.
I told myself I would never
let another company
be taken from me.
So don't let it be taken.
Give it up. Let go. Be free.
But if I'm Uber and Uber is me,
then what am I without it?
You are Travis Kalanick.
The man who gave the world
the chance to travel freely,
how and where they want.
No one can ever
say different.
Just imagine yourself
without this burden.
Waking up without
Board oversights.
Without the press hounding you.
Without Bill Gurley telling you
how to act like a champion.
You are the man your mother
loved and respected
and hoped you would become.
All right, I'll sign it.
Bring them in.
I'll tell them.
One condition.
Bill Gurley is out.
One champion to another,
if I'm not wearing the belt,
neither is he.
He's off the fucking board.
Someone else from his company
can sit on it,
but not that motherfucker.
He'll agree.
I'll make sure of it.
She'll give it to you once she
takes care of my one condition.
So it's done?
Yes.
But I need to tell you
what I agreed to.
You stepping off the board
was the final piece,
but he's out.
There'll never be another one
that trusts me, will there?
A founder.
Probably not, Bill,
but Uber will come clean now,
go public,
and your last name
will be Billionaire.
So does it matter?
I know what you say about me,
what you think about me.
What people think.
Am I good with it?
Does it matter?
No.
It does not.
You know, the times we live in,
they condemn what I've had to do
to make this thing work.
But here's the truth, my truth:
Sometimes, to change the world,
you need to do whatever
is necessary
to take a "no"
and turn it into a "yes."
If that means acting like
an asshole, being an asshole,
I'm an asshole.
And I'm not alone in that.
To paraphrase everybody's
favorite poet:
"The asshole now
is later to win."
Here's a roster for you.
Gates: Asshole.
Jobs: asshole.
Bezos, I would say it,
but I'm actually scared to.
And if you think I'm wrong
about any of that,
just go read the court cases,
the articles for yourself.
You know what? Don't!
Just sit there farting
into your couch
and dreaming about everything
you would do
if you weren't
so goddamn nice.
At least admit this:
You love riding in my cars,
you love that they show up
at your whim,
and you love all the stuff
that's come since
as a direct result
of my innovations.
So be virtuous,
be better than me
and write me off.
But while you're cheering for me
getting screwed,
just remember how secretly
grateful you are
for everything
I did for you.
Everything I gave you.
Signing that resignation letter
was a mistake.
By the way,
it's not binding.
I won't be bound
by some mistake
like my leave of absence,
which is now officially over.
So who's ready for our next
stage of growth?
Yeah?
We're gonna go beyond moving
people to moving things,
delivering anything and
everything that anybody needs
by land, by air,
by fucking sea!
I am ready for my second act!
Who amongst you
is ready as well?
Now, you can carry on without me
if you want,
and you'll make money,
at least for a little while.
But when you look back
and you're retired,
won't you be prouder
to have followed me today.
Now we, together,
have already built the most
important transportation company
the world has ever seen.
Who's ready to see
what we build next?
Come on!
Tech company CEO,
Travis Kalanick,
has been forced out
from Uber,
the ride-hailing company
he helped build.
This has come in a report
by the New York Times.
It's gone on to say that five
of Uber's major investors
have demanded that the chief
executive resign immediately.
And this includes one of Uber's
biggest shareholders,
the venture capital firm,
Benchmark,
which has, uh, one of its
partners, Bill Gurley,
on Uber's board.
They mention making the demand
for Kalanick to resign
in a letter
that was submitted
- Bricked my fucking phone.
- while he was in Chicago.
Of course, uh, we know that
a number of key executives
You just couldn't
help yourself, huh?
Had to leak it.
You want to know
if it was me?
Does it matter?
Hundred different ways
all this could have gone.
You forced this one
on us.
I for
You sent your kindergartners
over to lie to me.
They said this would not
go public.
They said the death
would be an honorable one.
Well, in my experience,
even a good death sucks.
You fucking VCs, man.
Just screw you over every time
with a song on their lips.
But here's the thing
about dead men.
You should let them lie
instead of hanging around
haunting lobbies,
living like ghosts.
I just came here to get my shit
and say goodbye.
Well, we'll send it wherever.
I saw them packing it.
You can't go up there.
You're dead, too, you know.
You're gone as I am.
I took your ass out with me,
so I don't know why
you're swaggering around
like you're John fucking Wayne
from The Searchers.
Because my entire sense of self
isn't wrapped up
in what happens at Uber
or any of my companies.
Yeah, you tell yourself
you don't care,
if that makes you feel better,
but for warriors,
the field of battle's
all that ever matters.
You tell yourself that.
You know what?
Fuck it, TK. You're right.
We're both casualties
of the same war.
And you know what else?
We're both gonna have
the same last name
the rest of our lives.
Make sure you do something
with it.
Amy, gather the kids up, please.
Make sure they're all there.
I'll be home for dinner.
"Yellow Ledbetter"
by Pearl Jam plays
I know you think I'm going
to burn some sage or something.
And actually, yes,
that would be a good idea.
I will.
But first, this space,
formerly called the War Room,
is a symbol of much that was
wrong with this company.
And for that, it will for now on
be known as the Peace Room.
Fuck it. Fuck this town.
Take me to the airport.