Uber Technologies Inc. co-founder Travis Kalanick is stepping down from its board as of Dec. 31, the company said today, and the search has begun for a new director to fill the soon to be vacant seat.

After establishing Uber in 2010 with co-founder Garrett Camp, Kalanick (pictured) served as its chief executive officer for seven years, growing the company from a startup into the world’s largest ride-hailing provider.

He resigned as CEO in July of 2017 over a string of  scandals surrounding Uber’s workplace culture. The company was grappling with accusations of discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as scrutiny of questionable business decisions such as its development of a system that blocked city inspectors from booking rides.

Kalanick’s board exit was in many ways to be expected. Speculation that he may give up his director position intensified last week, when new regulatory filings revealed the entrepreneur had sold more than $2.5 billion of Uber shares in under a month. 

A spokesperson for Kalanick told CNBC today that he has offloaded his entire stake in the company. A spokesperson for Uber said the company has “strong director candidates to put forward at the appropriate time” to replace the co-founder on the board of directors. 

“Very few entrepreneurs have built something as profound as Travis Kalanick did with Uber,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, who succeeded Kalanick as CEO after his departure. “I’m enormously grateful for Travis’ vision and tenacity while building Uber, and for his expertise as a board member. Everyone at Uber wishes him all the best.”

Kalanick said in a prepared statement of his own that “Uber has been a part of my life for the past 10 years. At the close of the decade, and with the company now public, it seems like the right moment for me to focus on my current business and philanthropic pursuits.”

Those business pursuits include CloudKitchens Inc., a startup reportedly valued at $5 billion that rents out shared kitchens to restaurants. CloudKitchens is pursuing an aggressive expansion roadmap that has seen it buy up commercial properties across the U.S, India, China and the U.K. in recent months to repurpose them into food delivery hubs.

Uber has continued to attract scrutiny since Kalanick’s departure. The company recently lost its license to operate in London for what regulators said were operational failures that “placed passenger safety and security at risk,” while a German court earlier this month issued a ruling that effectively bans Uber from the country, though it can still appeal.

Image: GES/Flickr