Uber rescinds job offer to Amazon’s voice-shopping exec

Amazon’s former VP of voice and natural user interface shopping Assaf Ronen was hired by Uber earlier this month to be the company’s new head of product, but now the job offer has been withdrawn, reports Recode. The reason for the withdrawal of the job offer centers around a discrepancy related to the length of Ronen’s stint at Amazon. Uber reportedly was under the impression that Ronen was still working for the e-retail giant when they hired him, when in fact Ronen left the company at the end of 2017. This discrepancy disqualified Ronen for the job. The withdrawal of Ronen’s job offer was confirmed to Uber employees in a memo from CEO Dara Khosrowshahi:

Team:

I wanted to let you know that we have had withdrawn our offer to Assaf Ronen.

Hiring is, quite literally, the heart and soul of our company and rescinding Assaf’s offer was not a decision we took lightly. I also recognize that it’s one more disruption for our stellar Product organization. But when it comes to who joins our team, we have very clear expectations, and this was the right thing for us to do.

There is one silver lining: we have a strong bench. Effective today, Manik Gupta, who was recently promoted to VP, will take over interim leadership of the overall Product organization. As I said last week, Manik has an amazing reputation in Silicon Valley and has been an incredible mentor and coach for many at Uber. I trust him completely to keep the Product team firing on all cylinders as we continue to create the best experience for riders and drivers around the world.

Onward –
Dara