Former Orbitz chief named as new Uber COO
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has brought in old colleague, former Orbitz CEO Barney Harford as his number two at Uber.
Harford becomes Uber chief operating officer after working in an advisory capacity for Khosrowshahi for the last few months.
Harford led Chicago-based Orbitz for six years before it was sold to Expedia, then headed by Khosrowshahi.
Harford also worked at Expedia in the early 2000s as president for Asia Pacific and is a board member at United Continental.
It ends a months-long hunt for a permanent chief operating officer
As COO, Harford will oversee all ride hailing operations, marketing, customer support, and the food-delivery unit.
"It is very clear that the way the company was run before is not acceptable and we absolutely need to change. I know Dara’s way of operating and he knows mine," Harford told Bloomberg.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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