Running head: NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 1

Navigating the Crisis Environment: An Analysis of ’s Communication Strategies

Cristina Dypiangco

Cal State Polytechnic University, Pomona NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 2

Abstract

With the rise of the sharing economy, startup companies are revolutionizing how corporate communication messages are implemented. Organizations are now expected to take corporate social responsibility seriously by creating policies and programs that demonstrate their concern to stakeholders. This study provides an analysis of Uber’s communication messages from their

Newsroom articles and official press releases to discover how this company navigates various crisis situations. Additionally, it examines how Uber’s innovative culture impacts their responses. A total of 203 Uber Newsroom articles and nine official press releases issued between

October 2014 and October 2016 were analyzed to explore the types of communication messages and responses the company displayed and whether a pattern of communication existed. First, I created a timeline of Uber’s potential crises and organized the events by crisis type. Then, I categorized all of the company’s Newsroom articles and press releases. Some of the popular categories included lifestyle, partnerships, and new beginnings. Subsequently, I compared Uber’s crisis situations with communication messages they released before and after the crisis to better understand the company’s response strategies. This study provides insight on how Uber breaks the rules of standard corporate communication by responding to crises in unconventional ways.

More specifically, Uber responds to crises indirectly by describing current partnerships and lifestyle activities they implement in hopes of fostering relationships and improving their reputation with stakeholders. NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 3

Navigating the Crisis Environment: An Analysis of Uber’s Communication Strategies

Literature Review

According to Coombs (2007) a crisis is a sudden and unexpected event that impacts an organization and its stakeholders potentially influencing public safety, financial loss, and reputational loss. Because a company's reputation influences how stakeholders perceive the company’s credibility, crises have the ability to increase reputational threat. Fombrun and van

Riel (2004) detail how organizations have “reputational capital” where companies with a surplus or stockpile of reputational capital are better equipped to handle a crisis with minimal losses than organizations who already have a limited amount available; therefore, these organizations will have a more difficult time restoring their reputation and resuming operations (as cited in

Coombs, 2007, p. 164). Crisis management is the process of how organizations combat crises and mitigate the damage that occurs (Coombs, 2007).

There are certain ethical responsibilities and validated accepted wisdom organizations are recommended to follow to successfully handle crisis situations. For example, it is suggested that organizations focus first on protecting stakeholders from physical and psychological harm before implementing response strategies to protect their reputation (Coombs, 2007). This includes providing stakeholders with instructing information on how to protect themselves physically from a crisis. Additionally, organizations can provide adjusting information or the care response to help stakeholders understand what happened during the crisis reassuring them that corrective action is taking place. Subsequently, post-crisis communication is implemented to restore an organization’s credibility, and it is important for a crisis response to be quick, consistent, and open. For example, a crisis management team (CMT) should release a statement during the golden hour so that an organization can get ahead of the crisis by telling their story first

(Coombs, 2014b). Also, organizations should be available to the media and willing to disclose as NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 4 much information about the crisis to reduce stakeholders’ concerns. Similarly, spokespeople should avoid saying “no comment” because this passive response may encourage stakeholders to believe that the organization is guilty.

Image Repair Theory (IRT) and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) are two theories that are often used to explain how crisis managers can respond to crisis situations while improving their reputation. Reputation repair strategies vary along a continuum to the extent that they accommodate victims, so depending on the crisis, organizations take varied levels of responsibility. William Benoit (1995) created IRT which focuses on repairing an organization’s reputation after stakeholders perceive an organization is responsible for negative action (Coombs, 2014a). An important goal of corporate communication is to protect an organization’s reputation so response strategies are implemented to defend and repair an organization’s reputation. The five image repair strategies are denial, evading responsibility, reducing offensiveness, corrective action, and mortification. It is recommended that organizations admit guilt when known, deny if innocent, shift blame, prove lack of control, and report corrective action (Coombs, 2014a).

On the other hand, Coombs (2007) elaborates how attribution theory successfully links together SCCT by describing how people make judgements about the causes of events by attributing causes to internal and external factors. Additionally, this is more likely to occur when individuals and organizations are presented with negative situations such as crises. SCCT is important in not only guiding stakeholders on how to protect their organization, but also in remaining proactive in preventing future crises (Coombs, 2007). Initial crisis responsibility, crisis history, and prior reputation influence an organization’s reputational threat. Framing impacts how individuals perceive certain situations. Additionally, there are three crisis types that vary in organizational responsibility, categorized as victim, accidental, and preventable. Specific NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 5 crisis response strategies correspond with each crisis type, and the effectiveness of each strategy depends on the crisis at hand; however, organizations should remember that strategies that assume more accountability and are more accommodative tend to be more costly for an organization.

Uber Technologies Inc.

In June 2010, Travis Kalanick and launched the ridesharing app, Uber, and today Uber Technologies Inc. operates in over 58 countries and is valued at more than $50 billion (McAlone, 2015). Uber was established when Kalanick and Camp wanted to find a way to lower black car services, and Uber provides a taxi alternative allowing customers to simply tap a button to receive a ride (Chokkattu & Crook, 2014). Although Uber has battled rivals and regulators since its inception, this organization has successfully disrupted the market by using

“technology to give people what they want” from rides to food delivery while offering a individuals a flexible way to earn money (Our Story, n.d, p. 2).

Background of Uber Crises

Since its creation, Uber has been involved in a variety of crises involving passenger safety, driver treatment, competition with other agencies, legal and regulatory issues, and sexist comments/ads which affects their reputation and foreshadows how they handle crisis situations.

Some of Uber’s scandals stem from negligently hiring drivers and Uber’s ultra-competitive culture itself. Travis Kalanick, co-founder and CEO of Uber Technologies, has played a significant role in influencing his organization’s culture creating a risk taking environment that encourages unconventional responses. For example, Kalanick compared women to businesses that you can sell at any time and refused to take responsibility when a passenger was choked by an Uber driver. He responded to this incident by informing his public relations team to “make NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 6 sure these writers don't come away thinking we are responsible when these things do go bad…"

(Tiku, 2013 p. 10).

Similarly, this mindset has trickled down to other high level executives and marketing content. For example, Uber’s Senior Vice President, Emil Michael, suggested how a million dollars could be well spent in hiring opposition researchers and journalists to dig up dirt on members of the press such as Sarah Lacy, editor of PandoDaily, who accused Uber of “sexism and misogyny” (Smith, 2014). Additionally, Uber has consistently denied reports of sexism within their organization despite implementing promotional materials that suggest otherwise. For example, a French Uber office released a new promotion on the app “Avions de chasse,” slang for fighter jets, which paired riders with “hot chick” drivers. This promotion was quickly removed; however, the Avions de chasse website includes a variety of content that objectifies women (Warzel, 2014).

Additionally, one of the more prominent cases of negligence was when six-year-old pedestrian, Sofia Liu, was killed in a car crash on December 31, 2013 in San Francisco after

Syed Muzaffar, 57, failed to yield to her family at a crosswalk. Liu’s family sued Muzaffar and

Uber alleging that Muzaffar used the UberX app during the time of the crash. However, attorneys described how Uber was not liable for Liu’s death because Muzaffar was an independent contractor and “had no reason to be actively engaged with the app at the time"

(Williams, 2014, p. 1).

According to Uber’s business model, drivers are classified as independent contractors and work an excessive amount of hours to make ends meet. Avi Asher-Schapiro, a freelance writer in

New York, describes how “under the guise of innovation and progress, companies are stripping away worker protections, pushing down wages and flouting government regulations” (Asher-

Schapiro, 2014, p. 30). This article also details when drivers contacted Uber about decreasing NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 7 pay, Uber had no comment. Similarly, organizations such as the California App-Based Drivers

Association (CADA) were brushed aside when Uber’s Los Angeles director, William Barnes, refused to take their grievances seriously which demonstrates how some Uber’s ultra- competitive nature encourages this organization to implement limited social responsibility.

Since this organization began in 2012, Uber has been entangled in more than 173 lawsuits across the United States and numerous lawsuits abroad (Reuters, 2015). Prominent cases include sexual assault, driver safety, and violation of transportation and privacy laws. For instance, Uber was fined by the French Court for implementing UberPop which paired passengers with non-professional drivers with their own cars (French Court, 2016) The court declared that “durable disruption” occurred in the transportation sector because it negatively affected the business of taxi drivers. Since this court case Uber has worked to staff “professional drivers in black sedans” throughout Europe; however, this organization has yet to suffer significant legal losses (French Court, 2016, p. 15).

Research Questions

RQ1: What response strategies did Uber use when handling crises between 2014 and

2016?

RQ2: To what degree did the response strategies selected by Uber match the response

strategies suggested by crisis communication theories?

Methods

The researcher qualitatively analyzed 203 Uber Newsroom articles and nine official press releases issued between October 2014 and October 2016 to explore what types of communication messages and responses the organization employed and whether a pattern of communication existed. A timeline of Uber’s crises was created and the events were organized by crisis type. The crisis types are driver treatment/safety, passenger safety, competition, legal NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 8 and regulatory issues, surge pricing, protests, and sexist comments and ads (see Appendix A for crisis types). These categories emerged from analyzing various news sources and were compiled into a crisis timeline.

Next, all of the company’s Newsroom articles and press releases during this time frame were tentatively categorized. Some of the popular categories including lifestyle and partnerships served as a reference point, and after categorizing the data, new categories such as new beginnings, drivers, legal and safety, and customer service emerged (see Appendix B for emergent themes). Additionally, each category included subcategories. For example, the lifestyle section included music, movies, health, and magazines. Also, partnerships and lifestyle categories were further refined to explore whether the content was related to any of the crises on crisis timeline. Then the timeline was re-categorized to have the same categories used to code the

Newsroom articles and press releases to allow the researcher to discover overlap or alignment between the crisis timeline and Uber’s content. Subsequently, Uber’s crises were compared with the communication messages they released before and after each crisis to better understand the company’s strategies in combating these crisis situations. In the crisis timeline, the most prevalent categories were legal and safety, new beginnings, and partnerships.

Results

The research questions asked what response strategies Uber used when handling crises between 2014 and 2016, and how did the response strategies selected match the response strategies suggested by communication theories. Overall, Uber responded to crisis situations by describing drivers, partnerships, lifestyle, customer service, new beginnings, and legal and safety issues. There were some similarities between recommended crisis response strategies and how

Uber responded to crisis situations. NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 9

Uber’s envisions an organization where “transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone” demonstrating how they aim to provide a unique service that anyone can benefit from influencing how they respond to various crisis situation (Our Story, n.d, p. 3).

This relates to several of Uber’s employee competencies such as fierceness and super­ pumpedness. An Uber spokesperson defined fierceness as “doing whatever it takes to make Uber a success, even when it is hard and takes some risk to get there” and super pumpedness as

“bringing energy and infectious enthusiasm to everything that you do” which illustrates why

Uber uses unconventional methods to respond to crises (Shontell, 2014, p. 16). Because Uber drivers are considered independent contractors, Uber has distanced themselves from many crisis situations focusing on protecting their reputation rather than caring for the physical and psychological concern of their stakeholders. For example, many times there was some sort of legal and safety issue, Uber underplayed the stakeholders’ concerns by creatively describing current partnerships and lifestyle activities they were using.

When comparing Uber’s response strategies to Image Restoration Theory, Uber mostly implemented denial, reducing offensiveness, corrective action, and mortification. For example, after Senior Vice President Emil Michael talked about conducting opposition research about journalists who write stories unflattering to the company, Uber reduced offensiveness by describing how they partnered with Caruso Affiliated at the Grove and Americana at Brand.

Similarly, when there was concern about passenger safety, Uber used bolstering to describe how they were helping local communities by partnering with nonprofits to eliminate child hunger.

Because Uber has had difficulty with surge pricing during the holidays, corrective action was used when Uber described released a “New Year’s Eve Ride Guide” to prepare clients with information about holiday safety and surge pricing to reduce potential crises. Lastly, concern for NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 10 victims was demonstrated when Uber issued a statement in response to the violence in

Kalamazoo, Michigan after an Uber driver shot six individuals.

The subsequent paragraphs provide examples for the emerged themes.

Partnership - expansion. In December 2014, Uber focused how during the past year they expanded from 60 cities to 250 cities worldwide (Johnson, 2015). This emphasis drew attention from when Uber was banned in Thailand and Spain a week later. Similarly, Uber responded with lifestyle content that demonstrated that they are a socially responsible organization that generously supplies food to local communities.

New beginnings. Similarly, in December 2014, surge pricing was enacted after a terrorist attack in Sydney occurred (Johnson, 2015). Once this happened, customers were outraged, and although Uber eventually responded on Twitter, there was no direct response in their Newsroom articles and official press releases. Instead Uber focused on how they are positively making a difference back home by referencing lifestyle and partnership issues such as how Uber was working within local community to raise funds to end children’s hunger.

Additionally, Uber teamed up with Mothers Against Drunk Driver (MADD) to combat drunk driving during the holiday season.

Legal and Safety. In February 2015 there was a breach of driver data and approximately

50,000 names and licenses may have been compromised by a third party (Johnson, 2015). Uber underplayed the seriousness of the legal and safety issue by focusing on how they are successfully expanding their organization along the Colombian coast to aiding in progress and development. Around this time they released a new magazine about Uber partners highlighting how their drivers have positive job experiences and the flexibility to personalize their work.

Transparency. Uber released a “New Year’s Eve Ride Guide” on December 21, 2015 to prepare clients with information about holiday safety and surge pricing to reduce potential crises NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 11 and get ahead of the situation. However, due to the nature of the situation, customers still voiced their complaints on Instagram and Twitter. Forewarning customers demonstrates how Uber is making an effort to improve their reputation.

Also, in February 2016, a Uber driver in Kalamazoo, Michigan randomly killed six individuals and injured several others in between working for Uber (Conlon & Valencia, 2016).

Uber directly addressed the crisis by expressing concern and coordinating with authorities, but did not take responsibility for this man’s actions on behalf of the organization. This demonstrates how Uber is distancing themselves from the crisis and how having drivers be independent contractors allows their organization to legally be “in the clear” although ethical concerns exist.

Uber also demonstrated transparency after the April 2016 settlement with San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys where Uber agreed to pay $10 million, modify advertising, clarify ridesharing at airports, and continue to work with the California Division of Measurement

Standards (DMS) (Settlement, 2016). This details how Uber is attempting to be more transparent in hopes of gaining the trust of their stakeholders.

Alignment. There are several cases of alignment between Uber’s content (Newsroom articles and official press releases) and the crisis timeline. For example, Uber addressed topics such as innovation and transparency categorized under new beginnings which demonstrates how they strive to take greater responsibility for their actions and desire to improve their reputation among stakeholders. For instance, a Newsroom article released on November 13, 2015 detailed how Uber would streamline the entire Uber customer experience by allowing users to request a ride through other apps. This focuses on how Uber is continuing to be innovative with their services (new beginnings). The same day, rumors spread that during the Paris attacks, Uber continued using surge pricing; however, this feature was removed about thirty minutes after the attacks had occurred and many drivers gave free rides. This demonstrates that although Uber was NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 12 transparent with their customers, many individuals still perceived that Uber did not have their best interests due to how they responded to surge pricing in previous emergency situations such as New York City’s Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (Walk, 2012).

Discussion

With the sharing economy becoming more prevalent, startup organizations are changing how corporate communication messages are implemented. Crisis response strategies have the ability to minimize damage to an organization’s reputation. Qualitative content analysis of

Uber’s communication messages from their Newsroom articles and official press releases was used to explore how this company navigates various crisis situations. An important goal of the research was to explore how Uber responded to crisis situations during a two year period and how closely Uber’s crisis response strategies matched crisis communication theories. Major findings include that Uber indirectly responded to crises by describing current partnerships and lifestyle activities they implement to build relationships with stakeholders. Findings also suggest that Uber implemented denial and reducing offensiveness to minimize the extent of the crisis situations.

It is significant that Uber responds to crises in an unconventional manner because most organizations take significant actions to protect stakeholders from physical and psychological harm. However, because Uber drivers are considered independent contractors, Uber has minimal incentive to take responsibility for crisis situations especially surrounding legal and safety issues.

With the increased need to display corporate social responsibility, Uber may suffer reputational damage in the long run if they fail to provide thorough physical and care responses for their stakeholders. Also, responding to crises by diverting attention to partnerships, lifestyle activities, and new beginning demonstrates that Uber is taking less responsibility that is socially acceptable for an organization to take, but because Uber is a startup, it is breaking the rules of standard NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 13 corporate communication which could potentially set a trend for other startup companies to behave.

Additionally, implementing denial and reducing offensiveness demonstrates how Uber is distancing themselves from crisis situations. Perhaps these strategies are commonly used because

Uber has expanded so fast since its inception and only has the capabilities to respond to the most serious crises. Also, denying the crises allowed Uber to promote other areas such as lifestyle, partnerships, and new beginnings. Denying the crisis if innocent can be a successful crisis response strategy; however, Uber is responsible for several of the crises described earlier

(Coombs, 2014a).

Limitations

There are several limitations for this study. First of all, the crisis timeline was not exhaustive so more crisis situations could have been included which may have made the lifestyle and partnership themes more prevalent in the results. Also, only the Newsroom and press release article titles and summaries were analyzed during a two year period so the study could have been expanded to cover Uber’s entire lifespan. Additionally, content analysis could have been completed for each entire website; however, additional funds may have been needed to secure the appropriate software. This would have allowed the researcher to see how Uber identifies themselves and what keywords emerge from research. Interviews and focus groups of drivers, clients, and employees could also be conducted to see if there is alignment among the stakeholders with Uber’s culture, mission, vision, and values.

In addition, the data may be biased since only one researcher coded the data and interviews were not implemented. Intercoder reliability could have been improved by having multiple coders categorize Newsroom articles and official press release titles. Differences in categorization could have been resolved through establishing and refining a code book. NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 14

Additionally, because qualitative research methods were implemented, the results of the study are not generalizable. There is also a lack of prior research studies completed on how startups navigate crisis situations, so most of the literature review consisted of conventional crisis response strategies.

Conclusions and Future Study

With the increase in the sharing economy, startup organizations are revolutionizing how they respond to crisis situations. This study provides insight into how Uber breaks the rules of standard corporate communication by responding to crises in unconventional ways. Specifically,

Uber responds to crises indirectly by describing current partnerships and lifestyle activities they implement in hopes of fostering relationships and improving their reputation with stakeholders.

In the future, researchers can explore if unconventional response strategies are common with other startups such as Lyft, Airbnb, and Snapchat. This would allow researchers to see whether

Uber has an unique culture of its own or if there is overlap with other startups. Additionally, researchers could analyze their response strategies to see if new theories can be created that apply specifically to startups potentially modernizing how these organizations respond to crisis situations. NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 15

Appendix A

Table A1: Contains Uber’s crises types, descriptions, and examples.

Crisis Types from Uber’s Timeline

Crisis Type Description Example

Driver treatement/safety When drivers are not treated February 27, 2015: well and their safety and Breach of driver data (50,000 security could be names and licenses) could compromised. have been compromised by a third party (Johnson, 2015).

Passenger safety The extent to which December 8, 2014: passengers are not being Boston Uber driver is accused protected from or are likely to of kidnapping and raping a experience danger, risk, or woman (Johnson, 2015). injury. February 20, 2016: Kalamazoo Uber drivers kills six (Conlon & Valencia, 2016)

Competition Rivalry among organizations December 9, 2014: to increase profits. Banned by Spain and Thailand due to unfair competition (Johnson, 2015). NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 16

Legal & regulatory issues Issues that include April 2016: settlements, mergers, Uber settlement in California acquisitions, and the role of (Settlement, 2016). independent contractors

Surge pricing “Uber fare rates automatically November 13, 2015: increase, when the taxi During the Paris attacks, demand is higher than drivers rumors spread that Uber around you and the Uber continued using surge pricing; prices are surging to ensure however, this feature was reliability and availability for removed about thirty minutes those who agree to pay a bit after the attacks and drivers more” (Uber Surge Pricing, gave free rides (Fernholz, n.d.). 2016).

Protests When individuals or June 2015: organizations are expressing Violence occurs in France as disapproval or objection to taxi drivers and supporters current practices. protest against Uber (McAlone, 2015).

Sexist comments and ads Remarks, attitudes, and November 17 2014: behavior that are directed at Senior VP Emil Michael talks someone’s gender about conducting "opposition research" to dig up embarrassing information about journalists who write stories unflattering to the company (Johnson, 2015). NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 17

Appendix B

Table A2: Describes the emergent themes from the Newsroom articles and official press releases including a brief description of each theme and examples of the subcategories.

Emergent Themes from Uber’s Newsroom Articles and Press Releases

Emergent Theme Description Subcategories & Examples

Drivers Provide Ɣ Military/Veterans employment ż “UberMILITARY: 10,000 Strong opportunities for a and Counting” variety of ż Earlier this month we reached an individuals important milestone for our UberMILITARY initiative — more than 10,000 members of the military community have signed up to drive on the Uber platform. Ɣ Women ż “Meet The Uber Team Driving Our Women Partner Program” ż In March, we made the pledge to economically empower 1,000,000 women as drivers with Uber by 2020. To drive toward that commitment, we have created a dedicated global team that is focused on making that goal a reality—and improving the experience for women NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 18

drivers along the way. Meet a few of the leaders on the team, and see how they are driving this initiative forward in their communities. Ɣ People with disabilities ż “A New Kind Of Mobility” ż Uber driver-partners Bob, Luigi, and Gabriel have all been able to overcome the adversity faced by people with disabilities in the job marketplace. Instead of being limited by what makes them unique, all three are redefining mobility — for themselves and their communities

Partnership A type of business Ɣ Acquisition/Expansion agreement in which ż “The Ride Ahead” two or more ż 2014 has been a year of tremendous organizations pool growth for Uber. It was just a year money, skills, and ago that Uber was operating in 60 other resources cities and 21 countries – today we (Partnership, n.d.). are in over 250 cities in 50 countries. We are 6 times bigger today than 12 months ago – and grew faster this year than last. Ɣ Mergers ż “Uber Merges with Didi Chuxing” ż Today we’re announcing our intention to merge Uber China with Didi Chuxing Ɣ Businesses ż “With New Global Collaboration, Chinese Travelers Can Use Alipay to Request and Pay for Uber Rides All Over The World ż Today, Uber, the only global , and Alipay, the world’s largest third-party payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”), announced a global partnership Ɣ Nonprofits ż “Uber Continues to Support Disaster Relief Efforts with 2016 American Red Cross Partnership” NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 19

ż Uber is proud to announce our continued partnership with the American Red Cross to help citizens and cities cope and recover from disasters Ɣ Charities ż “Share the Warmth” ż We’ve teamed up with Goodwill® again to bring you a Winter Clothing Drive. If you’re in New York, San Francisco or Boston on Tuesday, November 25, you can request an on-demand donation pick-up of the clothes you no longer need. Ɣ Community ż “Thank you, Uber Community, for #5MillionMeals to No Kid Hungry” ż Last week we announced our first national giving campaign with No Kid Hungry. Our goal was to provide #3MillionMeals for children in need but in just four days together, the Uber Community far exceeded it by donating funds to provide more than #5MillionMeals — a No Kid Hungry record!

Lifestyle “A way of living of Ɣ Music individuals, families ż “Drivers Can Start Their Day on the (households), and Right Note with Ad-Free Pandora” societies which is ż We designed a new feature with expressed activities, Pandora in the Uber Partner app so attitudes, interests, drivers can enjoy seamless, opinions, values, personalized music throughout the and allocation of day income. It is a Ɣ Movies composite of ż “Zootopia: Your Zuber is Arriving motivations, needs, Now!” and wants and is ż See your city in a new and influenced by whimsical way with Zuber and factors such as Disney’s Zootopia. Discover more culture, family, now! reference groups, Ɣ Magazines and social class” ż “Introducing Momentum Magazine” (Lifestyle, n.d). ż Today, we’re proud to unveil the very first issue of Momentum NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 20

Magazine, a new publication designed exclusively for Uber driver-partners. Ɣ Food ż “Las Vegas, Nashville & Tampa Bay, UberEATS is arriving now!” ż We’ve been cooking up something new — an app that makes getting great food as easy as requesting a ride. It’s our new food delivery service, and it’s called UberEATS!... Ɣ Sports ż “Celebrating EA SPORTS Season with the Launch of FIFA 17” ż Time to hit the pitch because we’re teaming up with EA SPORTS™ and Xbox to kick off FIFA 17 launch week. Learn how you can get in the action in over 40 cities around the world today. Ɣ Health ż “Outsmart the Flu with UberHEALTH” ż Flu season is just around the corner and we want to help you beat the bug. On Thursday, flu prevention is on demand through UberHEALTH and available across 35 US cities. Ɣ Retirement ż “Uber x Betterment: Flexible Options to Save for the Future” ż Let’s face it: saving — especially for the long term — is tough... Ɣ Animals ż “Puppies Are A Fan’s Best Friend” ż Paws what you’re doing because #UberPuppyBowl is happening in 7 cities on Wednesday! Ɣ Travel ż “Introducing Uber Trip Experiences” ż Today we’re excited to announce the launch a new developer feature called Uber Trip Experiences which connects riders with their favorite apps while they’re on an Uber trip Ɣ Holidays NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 21

ż “Halloween Carstumes” ż This year for Halloween, our car icons in the app are joining in on the fun and dressing up in costume. Ɣ School ż “Win a Free Semester of Uber” ż The best part of heading back to school this semester? It’s not the new schedule of classes, the reunion with old friends, or the parties. It’s the fact that college students across the country have the chance to win free Uber rides for the entire semester.

Customer Service Assisting Ɣ Flexibility stakeholders by ż “Siri, I need a ride” implementing new ż We’re excited to announce several programs to new features that will be available improve safety, through iOS 10, Apple’s newest make riding more version of iOS, unveiled today at the efficient, and build Worldwide Developers Conference. customer loyalty Ordering a ride has never been easier. Ɣ Commuting ż “New Study Finds Uber Cheaper, Faster, More Reliable for Lower- Income Neighborhoods in LA” ż New transportation options like Uber add a fast, reliable, and affordable option to the transportation ecosystem for low-income neighborhoods. Ɣ Reward program/payment method ż “Welcome All Bug Bounty Hunters” ż Today we’re excited to announce our official bug bounty program and a first of its kind loyalty reward program for bounty hunters.

New Beginnings To achieve a Ɣ Transparency competitive ż “Upfront fares: no math and no advantage, Uber is surprises” innovative and ż Imagine buying an airline ticket strives to without knowing the full fare until continuously the end of your trip. Yes, that sounds NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 22

improve themselves odd—but it’s what happens with many Uber trips today. We moved to upfront, per trip fares—just like airlines and hotels Ɣ Reflection ż “5-Year Anniversary Remarks from Uber CEO Travis Kalanick” ż Uber launched in San Francisco five years ago this week. On Wednesday, June 3, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick gave a special address to employees, driver partners and others reflecting on the past five years and looking ahead to the future. Ɣ Management (new leadership) ż “ Joins Uber’s Board of Directors” ż Today, I’m excited to announce that Arianna Huffington will join Uber’s board. For those of us who know Arianna, it’s clear she knows a thing or two about being an entrepreneur. Ɣ Innovation ż “Innovation in Motion” ż Do you ever wonder how you can request a ride with Uber directly through your favorite apps? Back in March, the API team released our Request endpoint, which finally allowed developers to build applications that incorporate the entire Uber experience.

Legal & Safety How Uber is Ɣ Settlements responding to ż “Growing and growing up” lawsuits, ż Today we announced a settlement in settlements, and two important class-action lawsuits: safety issues. O’Connor (California) and Yucesoy (). The key issue at stake in both cases is whether drivers using the Uber app should be classified as independent contractors or employees. Ɣ Violence ż “Statement on Kalamazoo” ż We are horrified and heartbroken at the senseless violence in Kalamazoo, NAVIGATING THE CRISIS ENVIRONMENT 23

Michigan. Our hearts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this devastating crime and those recovering from injuries. Ɣ Safety (passengers, drivers, employees) ż “New App Features and Data Show How Uber Can Improve Safety on the Road” ż Today we are releasing new data showing Uber’s impact on these issues over the last few years—and announcing new features in the driver app to help reduce these risks going forward.