00:04Thank you so much for being here.
00:07>> We're thrilled to have you today.
00:09Obviously, a lot of excitement here.
00:11Let's just take a quick poll.
00:13How many you use Uber?
00:14>> [LAUGH]
>> Awesome.
00:16>> That's like 100%.
00:18>> I'm going to clap for you, thank you.
00:19>> How many of you used Uber this week?
00:24>> Nice.
>> That's like 80, 90, so
00:26this feels like what our professors
are talking about when they
00:29are teaching us about product market fit.
00:32>> Now how many have used Uber Pool?
00:39>> Yeah, it's great.
00:39>> Pretty good!
So we have so much to talk about today,
00:43I would love to start with Iran but
then eventually move on to IAC,
00:47Allen and co, Expedia, Uber.
00:51>> Great, so starting from the beginning,
your family,
00:54Seth was 7,500 miles aways from
here in the Bay Area in Iran.
00:58And that's where you grew up running
a hugely successful conglomerate.
01:03you ended up having to flee, eventually
seeking asylum here in the United States.
01:09>> When you got here,
you didn't speak fluent English?
01:12Sometimes you introduced yourself as
Daryn Kay instead of Dara Khosrowshahi.
01:16>> Those were dark days, yes.
01:18>> [LAUGH]
>> How did the challenge of
01:22assimilation shape you as a leader?
01:25>> So I think, first of all,
I was a kid, I was nine years old.
01:29And I think that children, as you know,
are much more flexible and
01:35they can assimilate much more easily into
any situation, different situations.
01:40But I was also the youngest brother, and
01:44I was one of the younger
cousins in the family.
01:46So I was very,
very low on the totem pole and
01:49I had to assimilate even
before I came to the states.
01:53>> [LAUGH]
>> Whatever was going on,
01:55I had no say in the matter.
01:57And coming to the states for us,
what we had was, we always had family.
02:02And that was a constant and
is a constant for
02:07me in that really I certainly was thrown
02:12into a new environment but I always had
the protection of family to come home to.
02:17We were very lucky to have a very
strong education in Iran, and
02:20we continue to have a strong
education in the US.
02:25I learned a lesson that if you don't
understand what someone is saying,
02:30the answer is no, not yes,
because it's an Iranian thing,
02:34you always want to say, yes.
02:35So I'd have no idea what someone was
saying, I'd be like, yes, yes, and then
02:39I'd be like playing football someplace,
having no idea how to catch a ball.
02:42>> [LAUGH]
>> But for
02:44me the assimilation that really
got us in was through sports.
02:51Soccer was kind of the game of
the world and not so popular in the US,
02:56so we were regarded at soccer
gods at my high school.
03:00And that's how we got to
know a lot of other kids and
03:03really assimilate it into the school.
03:06>> Do you keep up with sports?
03:07>> Yeah, absolutely, of course,
I'm a big Premiership soccer fan,
03:11I wake up at 5:30 in the morning, my wife
says I'm crazy but she's good with hit.
03:16>> [LAUGH] So
it's hard to know your personal identity,
03:19you came here as a child and
you found your way.
03:22It's also hard to know your
professional identity,
03:25when you were at Allen and
Company, you met Barry Diller.
03:31>> Yes, yes.
>> And he has a reputation where
03:33some comment that he is demanding but
loyal,
03:36you identified him as someone
you wanted as a mentor.
03:41How did you know that, and what advice can
you give us on cultivating mentorship?
03:49He was my first true mentor, and
the way that I met him at Allen
03:55& Company,
I was a young analyst working on a deal.
04:00This was a hostile tender offer that Barry
had launched for Paramount Pictures.
04:05He was running QVC,
there was a deal for Viacom,
04:10which was is a big conglomerate,
to buy Paramount Pictures.
04:15And Barry was really interested in the
combination of commerce and entertainment.
04:22And when Paramount came in to play,
he went after it, and
04:27I was an analyst on the deal, and
he's like this giant Hollywood mogul.
04:33And this was a really dramatic
offer where we were making bids and
04:37then they'd make bids, etc.
04:39It was a very competitive
public battle for
04:43control of this highly
strategic asset at the time.
04:47And the thing that I remember about
Barry is, somehow he found out.
04:52And he would deal with an SVP who
had a VP and an associate, and
04:56somehow he found out that I
was running the deal model.
05:01And I was on the trading floor,
just this nobody,
05:03he found out that I was
running the deal model.
05:06And he comes up to me, he's like, you're
the one running the deal model, right?
05:10Yes, Mr. Diller, and he's like, okay,
05:13I want you to explain to me exactly
how it works, and I said, when?
05:18He said, right now, and of course
when Barry Diller says, right now,
05:22So I sat down with him and he wanted
to know everything about the deal model
05:28from the person who had actually built it.
05:31And he took the time and
I learned as I got to know Barry,
05:35that one of the things that he really
believes in is going to the source.
05:40That every time you get
information that is filtered,
05:43you lose fidelity in the information.
05:48This was a really important deal for him,
and he, instead of being comfortable
05:53with someone who would present information
to him in a clean and comfortable way.
05:59He wanted to be uncomfortable
with an unknown but
06:02knowing that he'd be closer to the truth,
and that was how our relationship started.
06:07And he would come to me on the deal model,
are we bidding to much,
06:10are we bidding to little?
06:11He was making the decisions but
he really wanted to go to the source and
06:16understand the core of the subject matter.
06:19We lost that battle, and
I still remember he released
06:24a statement saying,
we lost, they won, next.
06:31When I read that thing, I'm like,
I want to be a part of next.
06:35So with that, we went after a bunch
of other deals and machinations.
06:43And when the predecessor
company to IAC was born,
06:47it was Home Shopping Network
at the the time.
06:49He sold QVC,
took control of Home Shopping Network.
06:53We closed on a very large deal to
buy an entertainment business,
06:58Universal Television.
07:00And at that point he said, well, I want
you to work exclusively as my deal person.
07:07I said, I can't do that,
I've got a portfolio, he said, I want your
07:12portfolio to be me, and I said, well then
give me a job, and he said, let's go.
07:18So that's when I jumped
on board with him and
07:20the one lesson that I learned
from Allen and Company.
07:24Herbert Allen was the CEO at the time,
07:26he always said that as an investor,
he didn't bet on companies,
07:31he bet on people, he just said,
bet on people, I make my bet on people.
07:37And I think one lesson for
07:39me that I took away was, I was
an investor, I was an employee, right?
07:44But instead of making a bet on the job or
07:47instead of making a bet on the company,
I was making a bet on a person.
07:51And I said, Barry Diller, this is
the person that I want to work with,
07:55whatever you want me to do, I'll do it.
07:57And I followed him and
it's been a great decision of my life.
08:02He eventually sponsored you.
08:04>> Yes, very much so.
08:05>> And
tapped you to be the CEO of Expedia.
08:08>> And this was 14 years out of college.
08:11>> I guess so, yeah,
must have been desperate.
08:16>> Well, you proved yourself, right?
08:20At Expedia, you grew the business
from 2 to $10 billion over 13 years,
08:25that's very impressive.
08:27At the same time your competitor,
Priceline,
08:31they were a distant competitor at
the time you started being CEO.
08:35And then eventually actually became the
leader in the online travel agency space.
08:39>> Yes, it is very painful
even to hear you say it, yes.
08:42>> [LAUGH]
>> It grew to four times the size of
08:46Expedia when you left.
08:48>> [LAUGH]
>> Twist it in!
08:53>> You had to so
many successes, I am curious
08:56what you think your key wins were and
what you would have done differently.
09:03>> I think I'll talk about
booking.com since, or
09:06price, well is that booking
group since you brought it up.
09:10This was a company that we looked at,
and Expedia was one of the big players
09:15in the travel industry that was
growing incredibly quickly.
09:20And we were taking on the offline travel
agents and the traditional players.
09:26And what we saw with Booking.com was
a player who had very, very low margins.
09:33And what prevented us from ultimately
competing with them the way that we should
09:39have was that we didn't want to give
up our own fat markets, to be frank.
09:47And it goes to the whole issue
of the innovator's dilemma.
09:52We saw this business, and listen, we had
an opportunity to buy them just like
09:55Priceline actually bought booking.com.
09:57And booking.com became 95% of the business
and if we named the business booking.com,
10:02we'd have the same opportunities
about our company.
10:05But in looking at that company, our
team poo pooed it because it was a less,
10:11the unit economics of that
model didn't look as good.
10:14And instead of looking
at that as an asset,
10:17our team looked at it as a liability.
10:21And for me, that's a very important
lesson in that it's much easier for
10:27a business to make all
the tough decisions.
10:31And shape their business based on low
economics and low margins and then expand.
10:37And expansion is inevitably faster if you
have a low price product, especially in
10:42the Internet world where price is
something that is easily discoverable.
10:46It's much easier to go from low margin and
expand than be a high margin player and
10:52then slowly bring your margin down.
10:55We did bring our margin down over a long
period of time but if I had to do
10:58something quicker, I would've taken the
pain up front, I would've done it faster.
11:04And I think that for us, as a company,
when we started taken that margin pain.
11:08And when we started really rethinking
our business not as a travel company but
11:13as a technology company.
11:15That was the term that Expedia had to
go through to create value for us.
11:20But it's absolutely a lesson learned,
which is, low margins are an asset,
11:25they're not a liability.
11:27And to lose that cost discipline
11:31ultimately is going to cost you
market share over the long term.
11:35>> When did you realize that, and
how quickly did you adapt at Expedia?
11:41>> We realized it actually pretty quickly,
and the issue was that we had to
11:46go from a situation where a transaction
was worth, call it 25% or 15%.
11:52So we had to essentially engineer 40%
of our revenues out of the model.
11:59And that was a process, it took us
a couple years to realize it and
12:05then we started engineering it over
a period of two or three years.
12:10What allowed us to engineer,
12:11it was really making the bet on
our core technology platforms.
12:17And for me, one of the toughest things
that I went through at Expedia was that
12:22Expedia was a holding company,
12:23a number of different brands
within the holding company.
12:26And the largest part of the business
was Expedia.com, flagship,
12:30full service online travel agency.
12:33And I had failed twice in finding
a leader for that business.
12:39Found a person, it didn't work out,
brought in another person,
12:45And this was a particularly tough time for
me in the board, and
12:47I went to the board and Barry.
12:48I said, I've gotta bring in
another person, if I'm 0 for 3,
12:52I think you should fire me,
Barry said, you're damn right.
12:57So I said, then my third pick is going to
be me, I don't understand what it takes to
13:01run this business, and the only way I'll
understand is if I run it for awhile.
13:06So I was the CEO,
the corporate parent, and
13:10then I was the CEO,
the operational CEO of Expedia.com.
13:15And I learned more during those four,
13:17five years when I ran Expedia.com
than I ever learned in my life.
13:22And I learned what it really
means to operate a company.
13:25I learned what it really means for
business and
13:27technology to come together,
to really take risks,
13:31to really accelerate the rate of
innovation within a company operationally.
13:38And once we started turning
Expedia.com around,
13:42the company overall
starting turning around.
13:44And I was lucky enough then
to hand that business off to
13:47the CTO of Expedia.com at the time,
who's still running that business.
13:51So that was the real big turn, and for
me, it was a great learning opportunity.
13:55And I know I would not be in this spot had
I not made the mistake of not being able
14:00to find the right person
through on Expedia.com.
14:05>> Moving on from Expedia, which-
>> From that painful loss to booking,
14:10>> Well, it's a win in the end, right?
14:15>> In August, 2017, not too long ago, the
Uber board selected you to be their CEO.
14:22>> And I would presume that each of you,
the board and
14:26yourself, had requests of each other.
14:29Reportedly, Barry Diller,
14:30helped you during this
three-week negotiation process.
14:32>> Very much so, yeah.
14:34>> It wasn't a negotiation process,
it was an interview process, really.
14:37>> Okay, Either way, we can talk about
the negotiation or the interview.
14:45But I'm most curious about
the negotiation and if you can offer us
14:49any advice on negotiating job offers,
although on a much smaller scale?
14:53>> [LAUGH]
>> Well, let me tell you.
14:56>> [LAUGH]
>> So one of the advantages that I had in
15:03approaching this role was that
I had a great job already.
15:09And I loved what I was doing at Expedia,
and I really wasn't looking to jump ship.
15:16And it was both part of
the interview process and
15:20the negotiation process where,
during the interview process.
15:23I was just dead honest about
what I brought to the table and
15:28what I thought I needed in order
to succeed at the company.
15:32And I still remember,
there was the various candidates,
15:37and there were other candidates
who were much better known.
15:40They were capital letters candidates,
they came in and presented to the board.
15:47And I made a presentation
to the board where I
15:52talked about my expectations of the board.
15:55And part of the expectations for the board
were, what happens in the boardroom stays
15:59in the boardroom,
doesn't get tweeted out someplace, right?
16:02And also that with
the founders of the company
16:07being very much a part of
the company spirit and
16:12culture and what built that company.
16:16If they really wanted a new
leader of that company,
16:19it needed to be very clear
who their leader was.
16:24And that I expected the board
to be there for me.
16:28But I needed the freedom to
maneuver appropriately and
16:33make changes that I felt
needed to be made quickly,
16:37because this was a tough situation.
16:40So I was very straight with
the board about those issues.
16:42And I remember one of the board
members after the meeting said,
16:47all of it was great but that page
was really, it was not such a great,
16:51it was not that well
received by the board.
16:54I said well, if it wasn't that
well received, then I'm glad,
16:58because this is important to me.
17:00And for whatever reason,
maybe they ignore that page.
17:04But I just think that when you get
into a situation in a new opportunity,
17:10or a new opportunity that presents itself,
17:14being transparent about
your own capabilities.
17:18And I think you've gotta go first.
17:22And hopefully then getting
the transparency back from the other party
17:26that you're talking about.
17:28Ultimately, it's a win-win,
17:29because you never want to get yourself in
a position where you're at the wrong job,
17:35you don't have the capabilities, etc, and
vice versa, it's a loss for both party.
17:41So I've taken this, one thing that
I've learned from Barry is he's
17:45just the most transparent person on earth,
he just lays it out there.
17:50I think Diane von Furstenberg was here,
and
17:53I agree she was pretty transparent
about a lot of things.
17:59it's part of that core
culture that he taught me.
18:03It's something that I took to that board,
18:05we have some very frank discussions
about expectations both ways.
18:08And it's something that since
I've taken to the company.
18:11I think in the second town
hall that we had as company,
18:14I actually took my board presentation,
and I presented that at the all hands.
18:19I said, this is me, this is actually
what I talked to the board about.
18:22And it's the same deck, and
this is what you're going to get with me.
18:29And then we go on from there.
18:31>> As you said, it was a tough decision-
>> Yeah, very much so.
18:34>> To move to Uber from Expedia,
you had a clear idea of what you wanted.
18:40And one of our most sought-after
classes here at the GSB,
18:43called Leadership Perspectives with
Joel Peterson and Charles O'Reilly,
18:47we often ask visiting leaders
what winning is to them.
18:52You traded the top job at Expedia,
where you were very happy and
18:56just doing tremendous things,
for this job at Uber.
18:59Which some of the press described
as a lose-lose situation.
19:03>> I obviously wasn't reading that press,
but okay.
19:05>> [LAUGH]
>> Ultimately, what is winning to you,
19:09how did you think about that?
19:14>> Honestly,
I wasn't thinking about winning.
19:18I'll relate one story,
which was a funny story.
19:21When I was first reached out for
the job by some headhunters,
19:26I said, no way, I was happy where I was.
19:30And then I was having a drink
with a friend of mine,
19:34actually Daniel Ek,
the CEO of Spotify, at a conference.
19:39And he asked me, he said,
have they reached out to you?
19:41Because I told them,
I think you'd be perfect for this role.
19:44I'd say yeah, but I'm happy,
I'm doing great at Expedia.
19:50I'm not going to,
why would I ever do that?
19:53And he looks at me and he says, Dara,
since when is life about happiness?
19:58>> [LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH] And he stared at me with his
20:01Scandinavian eyes, and-
>> [LAUGH]
20:04it's about doing something great.
20:07And my wife was there, Syd was there
as well, and she's like, come on,
20:11man, you should go for this.
20:14So between those two, that was kind of
the moment that that changed for me.
20:18And listen, there are very few times in
your life when you can change the world.
20:26Or you can change something
that's truly important.
20:29And for me, the advice that I always give
folks that I talk to as far as careers is,
20:35I think that people often optimize way too
much for the role or the company, etc.
20:41The first thing that I always optimized
for is, who are you going to work with?
20:45And the people that I met on that board,
even though there were questions
20:49about the board, they were excellent,
the folks that I talked to on the board.
20:53And the second and third are,
20:55can you go to place where you
personally can make a difference?
21:00And can you go to a place
that's making a difference?
21:03I was in investment banking,
where I was making a difference, but
21:07I didn't feel like the impact
on the world was quite there.
21:10And this Uber opportunity for
me was, this is an extraordinary
21:14opportunity to make an impact at a company
that's making an impact in the world.
21:19And my attitude was,
it's not about winning or losing,
21:23it's actually about taking a shot.
21:26And if I took a shot and I won, then
glory come upon me, or whatever it is.
21:33But even if I took a shot and
I failed, and
21:36I don't plan to fail,
I took that fricking shot.
21:39And when I'm 30 years from now, 40 years
from now, I'm going to have a great,
21:43great story to tell my kids and
their kids and their kids.
21:46That, to me, is the definition of winning,
winning is getting in the game,
21:50is playing the game.
21:53And for me, a big part of
winning is winning as a team,
21:56I don't want to win alone.
21:58It's so much more fun to
celebrate with teammates, it's so
22:03much more fun to celebrate as a tribe,
as a family.
22:06So for me winning is, I'm playing in
a game and it's a really important game.
22:12And I've got a team around me, and
if we win, it's going to be a great story.
22:17>> One of the central tenants you
mentioned was going to a place where you
22:22>> To be sure, there was a lot
to do at Uber when you came on.
22:26And in particular, Uber has gone through
hell because of accusations around Me Too,
22:30unprofessional management, safety issues.
22:33>> Yeah, deserved, in some.
22:36>> The culture was thought to
over-index on this culture of
22:40begging forgiveness
versus asking permission.
22:44How did you address that specifically,
and what's left to do?
22:47>> So I think first of all, the,
I don't know if the company,
22:53well, I kind of know that the company
wouldn't have succeeded and
22:57been in that positon in the first
place without that culture.
23:01So I know that's it very to easy to
create a size it after the fact, etc.
23:04But the fact is that there are very few
companies that have created the kind of
23:08brand and the kind of service that
that team created in the world.
23:13It was historic, it is historic,
it will be historic.
23:16But the one thing that I've
learned is success imprints
23:20much more forcefully than failure.
23:24And what the pattern that you
see with companies is that,
23:27anytime you have a success,
of course it's because of you and
23:30everything that you do and
your culture, etc.
23:32If there's a failure, it's the market,
or the market wasn't right,
23:36timing wasn't right,
it's always someone else.
23:38So success sometimes, and
the kind of success that Uber had,
23:43was so extraordinary, that actually
in hindsight it kind of made sense.
23:48The success was born out of aggression,
and going for it,
23:52and not taking no for an answer,
and running through doors.
23:56And it worked, and
it worked spectacularly,
24:01but that hid Some negatives and
24:05some very significant negatives that we're
forming as a result to that culture.
24:13I have an experience that kind of
success that Uber experience early on.
24:17I don't know if I would have seen it
because they're too busy winning.
24:20And they're too busy being on
the photo spread of a magazine
24:24talking about how they're changing
the world and how they can do no wrong.
24:29So I want to be careful about how we think
about this situation, where we wound up
24:35was that once the winning stopped,
the fall was really, really tough.
24:40And it happened suddenly.
24:42And I think the company
hadn't built the bulwark and
24:46the framework to be able to
resist the wall that they hit.
24:52And they needed a change.
24:53And I'm here and
I can be a part of that change.
24:58That said, what we wound up with
was a culture that was, I think,
25:06There was one way, and
25:07there was the only way that was
defined kind of as a Uber way.
25:11The company had not taking the time
to think about diversity of thought,
25:16diversity of origin, gender diversity.
25:21Thinking about under represented
minorities and their position
25:26at the company, I think that the company
was a little bit too top down and
25:31it's part of the power of
the founder like company but
25:34it can also be part of the weakness
of the founder like company.
25:39And I think these are all
actions that we're taking.
25:41This is a company,
we are truly a global company.
25:45The connection that we have with
the cities that we operate in,
25:48we're not just the digital company.
25:49The connection that we have with the
cities that we operate in are physical and
25:55When our payment system goes down,
we have drivers who don't get paid,
26:01and some of them need to get paid in
order to afford dinner that night.
26:05So the connection that we have for
26:06the cities with our driver partners,
with our riders, are so fundamental and
26:11so important that it's incredibly
important as we develop as company,
26:16to be as diverse as the business the
riders and the drivers that we're serving.
26:20To be diverse in our views,
in our international viewpoints, etc.
26:24And we are working very hard in bringing
a leadership team that values that
26:28diversity, and then pushing down the
culture of truly celebrating differences.
26:34Truly being at one and in service of
the cities in which we operate, but
26:39it's a journey, it's only been an year,
and it's a start, but it's something that
26:42I and I think our leadership team
are incredibly passionate about.
26:46And the opportunity for us is,
26:49I think there's this dislocation
between technology companies and
26:53the rest of the world, and
it's coming out in a lot of ways.
26:57We're not the only tech company.
26:58We're in some sense
the tip of the spear here.
27:01Bu I think as a technology company,
27:04we touch people in a way that
other tech companies don't.
27:07It's fundamental, I think we're touching
the cities in which we operate.
27:12we as Uber, have the opportunity to be
that next generation technology leader.
27:17Both in terms of culture, but
actually how we connect to the cities and
27:23the constituencies that we work with and
operate around.
27:27So it's a big job, but I'm psyched for it.
27:29>> What's one specific example of a seed
that you're sowing right now that
27:34could actually, ultimately look like what
you're describing as an ideal stunt?
27:38>> We're thinking about
our driver-partners.
27:40We've always called our
driver-partners partners, but
27:43I don't think we've treated
them as such in the past.
27:47So now when we are launching our product,
the driver app,
27:52we actually go to our driver partners,
we do the research with them.
27:58For the first time, really,
we got driver partner beta testers.
28:02And go out there, and we actually build
not what we think they should have, but
28:06actually what they're telling
us they should have as well.
28:09So it's just a very different way of
building product than we've had in
28:14One of the areas where
we're thinking about for
28:16our driver partners are insurance.
28:18It's what if they get in an accident,
maternity, paternity leave, etc.
28:24We have partnered with AXA in Europe to
28:29actually provide these kinds
of insurance coverages for
28:33our driver partners and it's something
that's been incredibly well received.
28:36So that might not have
been a direction that old
28:42Uber would've gone through, but
I think that a more mature Uber, an Uber
28:46that understands that our driver partners,
in many ways are the face of the company.
28:52That's an area that we invest in,
and I think more and more,
28:54we're looking to treat them as
the true partners that they are.
28:58>> Look at the external side of the house.
29:00There's a lot that you've been doing
internally, and you mentioned that another
29:04one of your tenants is going to a place
that actually can have an impact, and
29:08indeed, Uber has shown and
demonstrated that potential.
29:13A former high-ranking Google executive
recently said to the New Yorker that,
29:17quote, everyone is terrified of Uber.
29:21Your comm-
>> Who is that person?
29:22>> Anonymous New Yorker.
29:23>> [LAUGH]
>> So your competition is gunning for you.
29:28>> And one of our beloved lecturers here,
Rob Seigal, often asks and
29:32popularized the following
question to visiting executives.
29:36You have one silver bullet to
take out a competitor, who is it?
29:42>> That is a tough one.
29:44A silver bullet to take out a competitor.
29:51Might be a pink competitor, I'm not sure.
29:53>> [LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH]
29:58I honestly think that right now,
30:02I actually do very much believe that
companies are too competitor focused
30:08sometimes and many times stop caring about
whats important, which is the customer.
30:14If there's a silver bullet for us,
30:16it's actually really starting, and I
think Uber, we have been, to some extent,
30:22historically too guilty of competitors and
what they're doing and share, etc.
30:28We are now really, our operations
teams and our product teams and
30:33our technology teams are working together
in a way that is customer-obsessed.
30:39And our customers are the writers and
the drivers and that is,
30:43if there's a silver bullet, I don't
want to shoot it at the competitor.
30:47I actually want us to accelerate
this kind of new customer obsession
30:51as a company because ultimately,
whether we win or lose,
30:55it ain't going to be about
what the competitors do.
30:58It's about what we do.
30:59We have a global scope.
31:02None of our competitors
have a global scope.
31:04We are multi-product.
31:05We've got a rides business that is
enormous and growing very quickly.
31:09We have an incredibly
business growing with hits.
31:13We are getting to scooters and bikes.
31:16We're getting into vitove,
31:18vertical take off landing products,
we're getting into frame, etc.
31:23The definition of success we're
taking on so many competitors
31:26that I need a silver shooting machine
gun to take out my competitors.
31:30So it's really we've gotta be
focused internally in order to win.
31:33That's the real focus for us.
31:36>> Lots of product lines and
31:37on top of that you're planning
on going public next year.
31:41>> We talked about this a little bit,
and specifically in the context of Uber,
31:46how do you trade off
investing in growth or
31:48in the new products with demonstrating
predictable profitability to shareholders?
31:53>> We're not going to have
predictable profitability.
31:57And we'll say it to our shareholders,
and the shareholders can choose.
32:01If they want a predictably
profitable company, go buy a bank.
32:04Don't come to us, simple.
32:07>> I notice when you were
describing you're [LAUGH]
32:10>> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE]
32:10>> I just, I'd rather be truthful.
32:13>> [APPLAUSE]
>> I can't wait for
32:16your shareholder letter.
32:17>> [LAUGH]
>> I did have, when I was at Expedia,
32:22I had a, I still remember an investor
meeting with an investor and
32:27he talked for like 5 minutes
about being a long term investor.
32:32We're a long term investor,
we're going to be an owner with you etc.
32:35I'm like so what's your average holding
period and he looked at me in like,
32:40with those deep eyes and
he said Nine months.
32:43>> [LAUGH]
>> I was like, my god.
32:46So it's just, you've got to,
there are true long term investors but
32:51just like you can't be
too competitor focused,
32:55just focus on the product,
state who you are.
32:59And that comes with limits and I think you
will get investors that you deserve and
33:04the markets that we're going after are so
big and
33:07the position that we have is unique.
33:09And by the way, we have lots of tough,
33:11tough competition that we will find
investors who hopefully grew with us that,
33:16that really the long
term is what we're after.
33:19And what I like to talk to,
to my team about is,
33:24I'm actually short-term inpatient.
33:28I want the small ideas that take
a week and I'm long term patient,
33:32I'll take the big ideas that take five
years, I don't like the in between.
33:37And so if there's a small idea,
get it to me,
33:40get it launched in a month,
get it launched in two weeks.
33:45I'll take that,
I'll take the big long term bets.
33:47Don't come to me with in between.
33:50>> One thing when you were describing kind
of the product sweep that you're most
33:54focused about that I noticed is that you
did not mention autonomous vehicles.
33:59>> That's part of the ride-share business.
34:02With autonomous, what's different
about us, as it relates to
34:06other companies out there is Autonomous
is autonomy, means to an end.
34:11Now, autonomous technology is going to be
incredibly exciting in terms of safety and
34:16ultimately cost and
providing the services, transportation and
34:20mobility service to everyone everywhere,
34:22especially if you don't live
in the middle of the city.
34:26But I don't believe that autonomous could
be commercialized at the giant scale
34:31that it has a potential to do so
without ride sharing.
34:34And I believe that any rideshare service
that doesn't have autonomous 15 to 20
34:38years from now will exist.
34:39So to us, autonomous and rideshare
ultimately are going to be one and
34:44the same and the advantage that we have.
34:47The magic is that we are able
to have them all under one roof.
34:51When we develop autonomous, we can
develop it for a very small use case.
34:57Which is let's say for
one percent, by the way,
34:59that very small use case is going to be
very difficult, but one percent of routes,
35:03then two percent of routes,
then three percent of routes.
35:06The challenges that we have to take
on in commercialization are much,
35:11much more simple than the challenges
that any autonomous-only player.
35:17So for us, autonomous and ride share,
they're ultimately going to be one and
35:21>> Do you think, on the supply side,
eventually Uber might serve as a platform
35:25for players, right now, who are saying
they're autonomous only, like Waymo?
35:30Yeah, we will welcome all comers,
and you'll see that now.
35:35For example,
we have an integration with Lime.
35:40They have bikes and scooters out there,
already I think they are live in Oakland.
35:45So ultimately the vision that we see
of Uber is, we want to be that A to B
35:49mobility and transportation platform for
people, food, and things.
35:54And no one company can provide
all of the different versions of
35:59transportation mobility.
36:01We will look to integrate in all
other many many other third parties
36:05just like Amazon has their own product and
third party merchant product and
36:10we want part of that mobility
to be hopefully provided by
36:13cities the bus service,
Metro service, etc.
36:16We want to have all of that available
in Uber so that if you say,
36:20I want to get to the city now, what is
the best way for you to get to the city?
36:25And if the best way for you is to take
Caltrain, we will tell you exactly when
36:30it's coming, we'll make payment perfect
and we will make it predictable
36:35as far as you're having real time data and
hopefully at some point we will
36:40introduce surged pricing in all
the other cool stuff that I we do.
36:46>> And I want to turn to you now,
I might understand that you even
36:50commuting to the Bay area from Seattle
>> The commute has officially stopped.
36:56>> Yes, I have moved.
36:57Thank you very much.
36:58>> That's fabulous news.
37:01>> Internally at Uber, you are riding the
ship, while simultaneously preparing for
37:06You're also managing
the pressure of internal leaks,
37:09an all hands meeting was recently
leaked just a day or so ago.
37:12>> Yes,
the leads has stopped until yesterday, so.
37:17But you are working to
repair trust with an Uber.
37:20>> How that's a lot of tension.
37:24>> How do you maintain your sanity?
37:26Who's your support system.
37:27>> [LAUGH] I'd say my wife.
37:31You know she's a I'd
say there two elements.
37:36One is When you come from a family whose
lost everything and then rebuilt it.
37:43It puts a perspective which
is I just kind of don't have
37:48a fear of loss anymore because
I know I'm going to be ok.
37:53So the leak did it suck yeah,
but are things getting better?
37:59And then when I get home and
you know I have dinner with my wife and
38:03my kids it's all good, and
the next day I'll do my best.
38:06And you know what I know I always
have with me is my family.
38:13And what I know I will be true to
is really giving everything I have
38:19to this opportunity because it
is an opportunity of a lifetime,
38:24and I'm incredibly lucky
to be in this spot.
38:28>> It's interesting because before
you came to Uber and Expedia,
38:32you tried to travel to India.
38:34Your Visa got denied.
38:37>> [LAUGH] But-
>> Apparently I wasn't a big deal enough.
38:40Uber, I got a visa like that.
38:42>> And not only that, but
you were meeting with Prime Minister Modi.
38:45>> And equally as CEO, you are making
deals on an international scale.
38:52Liasing with governments like the UK.
38:55In a world far after Uber, might we
one day see Secretary of State Dara?
39:04I would be very fearful for
in the country in that case.
39:11I have joked that my job is half CEO,
half politician in this New world.
39:17But I'm busy with all
the politics right here.
39:23I don't think I want to get
into more politics than that.
39:26>> One last question before we let you go.
39:29We're going to do a quick lightning round.
39:32>> [LAUGH] I'm going to give you a prompt
you can respond with a word up to
39:39Fortnite or World of Warcraft?
39:41>> World of Warcraft definitely.
39:44I actually tried to have a date with
my wife in World of Warcraft, and
39:48I was this gnome, and he can put in
these commands to dance for her.
39:52She was an elf,
which compared to her, I am a gnome.
39:57She didn't think it was that cool,
but still.
40:03>> I gotta go with Steph, I mean I'm here.
40:07Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead?
40:09>> Radiohead, most definitely.
40:11>> [LAUGH]
>> I'm a big Radiohead fan.
40:13>> You're the youngest of three brothers,
as you've said.
40:15>> Yes.
>> Kave or Murad?
40:17>> [LAUGH]
>> You're really trying to start
40:21with Booking.com, kicking our ass and
then pick between, you know,
40:25the proper answer of
the young brother is Dara.
40:28[LAUGH] I'm a youngest too, I can relate.
40:31Pike Place Market or
Fairy Building Marketplace?
40:34>> I gotta go with Pike Place for now.
40:37Gotta love Seattle you know.
40:40>> Profits or growth?
40:43>> iPhone or Android?
40:46>> Lyft or taxicabs?
40:48>> [LAUGH]
>> I will walk before I'll take a cab.
40:54[LAUGH]
>> [APPLAUSE]
40:56>> Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
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