UPDATED 23:32 EDT / JULY 27 2017

APPS

Meg Whitman doesn’t want to be CEO of Uber. Anyone else?

Uber Technologies Inc.’s search for a new chief executive shows no signs of ending after one of the top candidates for the position publicly denied any interest in joining the company.

The candidate in question is Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. CEO Meg Whitman. On Thursday, she made it clear she’s not interested in joining the troubled ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc., contrary to speculation that emerged earlier this week.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Whitman was one of six people to be shortlisted for Uber’s top job. The reports noted that although no formal approach had been made, Whitman has been quietly advising the company since its previous CEO Travis Kalanick left following a seemingly endless string of scandals that hit the firm.

Things came to a head on Wednesday when Whitman announced that she was resigning from her position as the chairwoman of HP Inc.’s board of directors, a role she had held since the company split from HPE. Whitman had previously been the CEO of the original Hewlett-Packard Co., before it split into two entities back in 2015.

Whitman said in a statement that her decision to quit HP Inc. was effective immediately, with Levi Strauss & Co. President and CEO Chip Bergh taking over control of the company’s board. Some reports speculated that the move was about Whitman “cutting ties” with HP so she could transition to a new role at Uber more smoothly.

However, that’s not the case, according to the woman herself. Just hours after announcing she had quit HP Inc.’s board, Whitman took to Twitter and firmly denied any interest in joining Uber, saying she’s quite happy where she is.

It appears that there was an irrevocable split on the board, with Kalanick opposing Whitman, according to a story Sunday in the New York Times, possibly even because he and his backers were looking for a way for him to resume an operational role.

Other candidates said to have been shortlisted for the Uber job include General Electric Co.’s outgoing CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, and Bank of America Vice Chairman Anne Finucane. Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, former Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer, Thrive Global founder Ariana Huffington and Mark Fields, former president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., have all been linked with the role. It’s not clear if any of those people are actually interested in taking over the job, however.

Uber has been searching for a CEO who can restore confidence in its brand following the departure of Kalanick last month after to a series of controversies, including claims of sexual harassment.

Image: HPE

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