Uber chief financial officer Brent Callinicos is stepping down from his position at the ride-sharing firm after having spent the last two years driving Uber's growth to more than 10 times its initial valuation when he joined the company.
CEO Travis Kalanick announced in a memo to investors on Monday, March 16, that Callinicos is leaving the position to spend more time with his family, although he will stay on at Uber as an adviser and consultant to Kalanick.
"Brent has done a wonderful job here at Uber but has decided that it is time for his next journey, one where his wife and daughter take the front seat," Kalanick said in the memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
Callinicos, who spent a total of 21 years working in various positions at Microsoft and Google, including treasurer and chief accountant at the search company before moving on to Uber, spent only two years as finance chief at the ride-sharing app. However, during that time, Callinicos helped Uber grow from $3 billion to a current valuation of $41.2 billion, making it the second most valuable venture-backed company in the world, trailing only behind Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which is valued at $46 billion.
In December, Uber raised another $1.2 billion in a round of funding participated in by venture firms such as Benchmark, First Round Capital, and Google Ventures as well as mutual funds BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. The following month, Uber received $1.6 billion in convertible debt financing from Goldman Sachs.
In an email sent to Uber's staff, Callinicos said he is grateful for ending his career in finance in Uber, but it is time that he moved on to a new career, one that involved driving his daughter to middle school every day and attending her swim meets and academic activities.
"After 26 years of nonstop work since MBA school, I am going to step back and spend some time with my family and let someone else take this amazing company to the next level as CFO," Callinicos said. "My daughter is in middle school; my wife has been supportively waiting to spend time with me for 28 years. I made a promise to both of them that I would be taking a long break at this stage of life."
The next level Callinicos referred to is believed to be Uber's highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO). As the Financial Times says, the entry of a new CFO is often seen as a signal that the company is getting ready to file an IPO, and Callinicos has no previous experience when it comes to heading a publicly traded firm.
Kalanick said Callinicos' responsibilities will be taken over by his Strategic Finance right-hand Gautam Gupta, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs, who will serve as acting head of finance while Uber looks for a replacement, possibly one who is well-versed in handling Uber's rumored IPO.
