It’s our first ever What The Uber Friday and we are excited to share this What The Uber moment with you today!
We all know that Uber’s business etiquette could use a dose of compassion but this What The Uber story is just downright malicious! Towards the beginning of the 2015 year, Carnegie Mellon University and Uber happily announced a new strategic partnership. The agreement focused on Carnegie Mellon’s NREC (National Robotics Engineering Center) aiding Uber with their research for driverless taxis while Uber would simultaneously boost Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Engineering Labs through funding.
Seems like a win for all, right?
Wrong. Just about four months after this happy partnership was formed, Uber poached almost all of Carnegie Melon’s staff, using six figure signing bonuses and huge raises to hire away 40 of Carnegie Melons top researchers and scientists! Let’s face it nothing says partnership like “We are going to steal all your top workers but still benefit from attempting to have our name attached to your high end institution!”
In the end we can’t say that this Uber raid is much of a surprise, coming from the company that is notorious for its cut-throat business practices. After the many controversial Uber VS Lyft stories, Uber double crossing a partnership is probably considered small potatoes to CEO Travis Kalanick. In good news, Carnegie Mellon is staying optimistic and is actually trying to look at this situation in a positive light!
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To read more on the Uber/Carnegie Mellon scandal visit the Wall Street Journal for the full story.
