Sources say Uber CFO is leaving: the highest-ranking executive since the company's IPO

According to news in the morning of July 11, Beijing time, Uber Chief Financial Officer Nelson Tsai (Nelson Chai) is reportedly ready to leave, which will be the most important departure of the company since Uber went public in 2019.

People familiar with the matter said Cai had told Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi that he would leave, although the timing of his departure had not yet been set.

"over the past five years, Nelson has played a key role in ensuring the financial stability of the company, leading the company out of huge losses," a Uber spokesman said in a statement. "We will not comment on any potential career decisions of any executives during the silence period."

If Cai Zhen leaves, it will mean the end of his five-year term at Uber. Cai became a member of Uber in 2018. He led the company IPO and solved some financial problems. When Cai took office, Uber was in trouble, the company was profligate, and 58-year-old Cai Linwei was appointed to invest huge amounts of money in pursuit of explosive growth. For three years before Cai joined the Uber board, the Uber CFO position had been vacant.

During Cai's leadership, Uber completed several big deals, such as the $2.65 billion acquisition of Postmates,2021 in 2020 and the $2.25 billion acquisition of logistics operator Transplace in 2020. Uber's demand for taxis was hit hard during the pandemic, with bookings falling by as much as 80% and the company laying off more than 6000 people.

Uber's adjusted earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) in 2022 was approximately US $186 million, from negative to positive. According to the general accounting standards of the United States, Uber is still in a state of loss, and how to turn the deficit around has been the next goal for Cai and Kosrosassi.

Moody's, a rating agency that upgraded Uber earlier this year, believes that Uber's profitability has improved significantly and the company will continue to generate cash flow.

Before joining Uber, Tsai was a longtime deputy to John Thain, a former Goldman Sachs executive on Wall Street, and later senior executives at the New York Stock Exchange, Merrill Lynch and CIT Group.

While working at Merrill Lynch, Cai and Thain helped the company through the 2008 financial crisis, selling the company to Bank of America and avoiding bankruptcy. It wasn't long before the two left Merrill Lynch and met again at CIT Group. Before Cai joined Uber in 2018, he was CEO of Warranty Group, an insurance company.