Police Raid Uber Online Taxi Service's Paris Offices
The headquarters of the French branch of the US-based firm was targetted at the request of the Paris prosecutor's office.
The enquiry centres on the UberPop smartphone application, which puts non-professional drivers with their own cars in touch with passengers via their mobile phones or a website, for rides at budget rates.
The company called the raid an "attempt at intimidation," adding that dozens of non-professional UberPop users had been fined since the start of the year.
Uber, which operates in about 250 cities in 50 countries, has become an object of scorn from traditional taxi companies fighting for survival against the rise of the Silicon Valley challenger, founded in 2009.
"We see this raid as a disproportionate action carried out on a very fragile legal basis," Uber France boss Thibaud Simphal told the website of L'Obs magazine.
Earlier this month hundreds of taxi drivers from Belgium and France brought central Brussels to a virtual standstill with their vehicles in a protest against the web-based Uber.
Around 100 French taxi drivers travelled to Brussels to take part in the protest.
UberPop is technically illegal in France, but the company has appealed a 100,000-euro ($113,000) fine it received last year.
Uber's American founder Travis Kalanick has said the system will create 50,000 new jobs in Europe this year, and help take 400,000 cars off the road by encouraging drivers to use taxis instead of their own vehicle.
Uber Chief Financial Officer Brent Callinicos Steps Down
Uber Technologies Inc's Chief Financial Officer Brent Callinicos is stepping down, the online taxi service's CEO said in an email to investors.
The company has not named a replacement to Callinicos, but Gautam Gupta, "Brent's right hand on Strategic Finance" will be the acting head of the finance division, Chief Executive Travis Kalanick said in the email seen by Reuters.
Callinicos, a former Google Inc executive, will be an advisor to Uber.
"Brent has done a wonderful job here at Uber but has decided that it is time for his next journey, one where his wife and daughter take the front seat," Kalanick wrote in the email.
Callinicos, who joined Uber in 2013, served as treasurer and chief accountant at Google.
The company has not named a replacement to Callinicos, but Gautam Gupta, "Brent's right hand on Strategic Finance" will be the acting head of the finance division, Chief Executive Travis Kalanick said in the email seen by Reuters.
Callinicos, a former Google Inc executive, will be an advisor to Uber.
"Brent has done a wonderful job here at Uber but has decided that it is time for his next journey, one where his wife and daughter take the front seat," Kalanick wrote in the email.
Callinicos, who joined Uber in 2013, served as treasurer and chief accountant at Google.
Source : NDTV![]()
