1.Uber

Uber (company)

Uber Technologies Inc. is an American multinational online transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars.[1][2] As of April 12, 2016, the service was available in over 60 countries and 404 cities worldwide.[3][4] Since Uber’s launch, several other companies have copied its business model, a trend that has come to be referred to as “Uberification”.[5][6]

Uber was founded as “UberCab” by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009 and the app was released the following June. Beginning in 2012, Uber expanded internationally. In 2014, it experimented with carpooling features and made other updates. Klout ranked the San Francisco-based company as the 48th-most powerful company in America in 2014.[7] By late-2015, Uber was estimated to be worth $62.5 billion.[8]

The legality of Uber has been challenged by governments and taxi companies, who allege that its use of drivers who are not licensed to drive taxicabs is unsafe and illegal.[9]

Type: Private
Industry:     Technology
Founded:     March 2009; 7 years ago
Founders:     Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp
Headquarters:     San Francisco, California, U.S.
Area served: Worldwide
Key people:Travis Kalanick (CEO)
Services:     Taxi, vehicles for hire
Slogan:     Where lifestyle meets logistics
Website:     www.uber.com

Travis Kalanick

Travis Cordell Kalanick (born August 6, 1976) is an American entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of the peer-to-peer file sharing company Red Swoosh and the transportation network company Uber.

In 2014, he entered the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans at position 290, with an estimated net worth of $6 billion.[2]

Early life and education

Kalanick was born on August 6, 1976 in Los Angeles, California. He lived in Northridge, California, where he graduated from Granada Hills High School and later enrolled in college at the University of California, Los Angeles, to study computer engineering.[3][4][5] While at the University of California, Los Angeles he joined the Theta Xi Fraternity. His mother, Bonnie, worked in retail advertising for the Los Angeles Daily News, and his father, Donald, was a civil engineer[6] for the city of Los Angeles.[7] His father Donald E. Kalanick’s family is Catholic with Czech and Austrian roots.[8][9][10][11] Travis C. Kalanick was born to a Jewish mother (her maiden name is Horwitz) in Los Angeles.[12] He has two half-sisters and his brother Cory is a firefighter.