Uber’s Head of Policy and Communications for Europe, Middle East & Africa left the company after only a year in the role, with Christopher Burghardt confirming he’s now set to join ChargePoint, a Californian firm that specializes in developing, building, and maintaining charging networks for electric vehicles. Mr. Burghardt’s departure comes only several weeks after another senior executive left the most valuable startup in the world in the aftermath of Uber losing its London license and consequently prompting its Northern European Manager Jo Bertram to resign her position.
Much like Ms. Bertram, Mr. Burghardt already found a new employer by the time he announced his decision to leave the ride-hailing service provider, marking yet another major depature at the company which has been struggling with various issues in recent times but now also appears to be bleeding talent. Uber’s executive will take the role of a Managing Director at ChargePoint where he’s set to start in November, suggesting that he’ll be officially leaving his current firm by October 31st. Mr. Burghardt remained supportive of Uber’s existing endeavors and stated that Dara Khosrowshahi is capable of ensuring Uber has a sustainable future after replacing ousted Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick in September. Uber’s struggles in Europe won’t end with Mr. Burghardt’s departure as London officials still appear to be adamant to keep the company out of one of its largest markets in the world. Mr. Khosrowshahi’s recent apology tour encompassed London whose major praised the new CEO’s “humility” but no firm resolutions have been reached and while Uber said it isn’t looking to settle the dispute in court, the company now officially appealed Transport for London’s decision to deny its license renewal in a bid to continue operating in the city while judicial bodies are examining its complaint.
The San Francisco, California-based tech giant is also currently in the process of concluding its negotiations with Japanese tech giant SoftBank over the largest private stock acquisition ever made which would provide SoftBank with a stake in Uber of up to 20 percent worth around $10 billion. In the medium term, Uber is hoping to go public by 2019 and allow its existing investors to cash out on the company while raising additional cash to continue pursuing its aggressive expansion efforts.