Uber’s Levandowski gets fired
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Now the big question: what provisions did Uber include in the acquisition agreement to claw back stock options in this sort of situation?
I'd certainly hope that they had something in there to ensure that the options didn't vest if Levandowski was fired with cause during the first few years of employment.
If not, then Uber's CEO deserves to be fired too.
I'd certainly hope that they had something in there to ensure that the options didn't vest if Levandowski was fired with cause during the first few years of employment.
If not, then Uber's CEO deserves to be fired too.
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Ars Legatus Legionis
Yeah that will teach him not to steal. I feel bad for the guys having to live off the 680 million dollars he made from the theft without a day job for financial security.
Now if there was jail time and restitution on the horizon maybe he would be a little worried.
Now if there was jail time and restitution on the horizon maybe he would be a little worried.
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Yeah, one would think that both his employment contract, and the buyout of his company included language about their payment on both being contingent on them being able to actually use both his experience and IP.
Of course, that's currently a double-edged sword for them. Sue Levandowski now and they basically admit that the stuff they purchased from him is Waymo property. So they'll most likely need to wait until the end of this litigation before they can possibly try to go after those hundreds of millions they paid for his company.
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Ars Legatus Legionis
Normally I would agree with you but this is Uber we are talking about; a nearly perfect distillation of modern day serfdom, dudebro culture, and a passionate belief that laws are for suckers. Still one can certainly hope there is some clawback provision.
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If uber did everything on its own and isn't hiding anything then why haven't they let an independent team requested by waymo look at their systems?
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Which may not mean much if Levandowski offshores the money and/or declares bankruptcy during the litigation and appeals process... or simply if it drags out past a statute of limitations.
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This was the obvious next move.
The interesting question is the relationship. Was this a termination for failing to cooperate with the court-imposed discovery, or telling him to "Lay low for a bit, and don't reveal anything. You don't have to comply with discovery if you are no longer an employee. If it all works out, you get to keep the money."
The interesting question is the relationship. Was this a termination for failing to cooperate with the court-imposed discovery, or telling him to "Lay low for a bit, and don't reveal anything. You don't have to comply with discovery if you are no longer an employee. If it all works out, you get to keep the money."
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I bet Uber is still counting on using the tech that they got from this guy. Because paying for something another guy stole somehow makes everything legit 
...
...
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Can't speak for Uber, but at the company I work for, even a standard software license audit will get certain folks in a tizzy. We don't like anybody looking at any of our stuff for any reason. A third party, contracted by our partners, even less so - even when we confident we are going to come up clean.
A third party during the course of litigation with a competitor, wherein there is a good chance we could be dinged? I suspect that Levandowski has a better chance of getting rehired by Alphabet.
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Show of votes:
Upvote if you think this is just a corporate lie, because Uber does that a lot.
Downvote if you think it's the truth, because Uber... Um... Well, maybe they've decided to turn over a new leaf?
Yeah, that one hurt my head to even say...
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well i think its clear from the evidence that waymo presented/court proceedings that: files were taken, things were deleted to coverup what occurred, levandowski quit, he got paid in the nine figures for something big and subsequently hired at a competitor.
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Uber is in such a no-win position here. Even if they have honestly done all the due diligence that they should, and even if they don't have any of Waymo's data, it strains credulity/belief that they don't actually have some of Waymo's stolen data.
Then again, it's at least partially Uber's own fault for bringing on Levandowski under somewhat sketchy business circumstances.
Then again, it's at least partially Uber's own fault for bringing on Levandowski under somewhat sketchy business circumstances.
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Especially if he now decides to leave the country to start up a think tank in the Solomon Islands with anonymous investors....
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Gee, guilty much? When the company you're trying to sell allegedly (and yes, it's not been proven yet) stolen IP, fires you, after backing you in a major litigation for the alleged crimes, wow... Me thinks you're in trouble.
Also doesn't help you tried, again allegedly, to funnel it through an incredibly transparent intermediary company that is going to get scrutinized heavily.. Really, I'm amazed you're not on the next plane to China begging for asylum.
I honestly think you'll need it but you certainly deserve jail time.
*sorry to be so spitefull on here, but myself and good friends off mine have had their lives ruined because of ip thieves (allegedly) like him. This is real, straight up damaging theft... If that is what it turns out to be*
Also doesn't help you tried, again allegedly, to funnel it through an incredibly transparent intermediary company that is going to get scrutinized heavily.. Really, I'm amazed you're not on the next plane to China begging for asylum.
I honestly think you'll need it but you certainly deserve jail time.
*sorry to be so spitefull on here, but myself and good friends off mine have had their lives ruined because of ip thieves (allegedly) like him. This is real, straight up damaging theft... If that is what it turns out to be*
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He may not have $680M. The engineers Otto lured from Google were probably motivated by their own stock shares.
Unless Uber is totally incompetent, the $680M is mostly options on Uber shares dependent on future performance, which has been underwhelming so far. It would be REALLY interesting to know the details.
Of course, he has the $120M from Google before he suddenly quit. Google will be trying to make sure he keeps as little of that as possible.
With whatever he has left, he can pay lawyers to prepare the the probable criminal case against him.
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Sometimes i wonder how Uber, as a company, let these kinds of affair linger for so long. Any company that works with R&D has no business allowing an employee involved in a data theft scandal linger in their workforce, especially in a management position. Uber should have suspended Lewandowsky from his position the very day the scandal broke out, and terminated him on the first hint that he refused to cooperate.
At this point it's obvious Uber was at the very least sloppy for not performing due diligence on his acquisition of Otto, and most likely someone at Uber enabled Lewandowsky. This wouldn't be as bad if Uber had the attitude to swiftly fire all employees involved in these shady deals, but instead they take a reticent position to delay the resolution of this issue.
It's almost like Uber WANTS to look like Evil Inc., which is funny since their long history of crookedness suggest that's exactly what they are. But they certainly could use a little less bad press.
At this point it's obvious Uber was at the very least sloppy for not performing due diligence on his acquisition of Otto, and most likely someone at Uber enabled Lewandowsky. This wouldn't be as bad if Uber had the attitude to swiftly fire all employees involved in these shady deals, but instead they take a reticent position to delay the resolution of this issue.
It's almost like Uber WANTS to look like Evil Inc., which is funny since their long history of crookedness suggest that's exactly what they are. But they certainly could use a little less bad press.
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He has been referred to federal prosecutors by the judge. Like with the Prenda's, the feds will spend a year or three in stealth mode making sure they've got every i dotted and t crossed before there is any visible action. At which point his stay at Club Fed will be arranged. I'm not sure if the Feds will be able to seize his $680m paycheck; but since it's ultimate source is from illegal activities I'm certain they'll be looking for every possible justification to take it. (Assuming Uber doesn't have a clawback provision in the contract they signed when buying his company out anyway.)
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It's simpler than that. Uber's entire business model is based around growing fast enough that they're too big to outlaw. They've had a fair amount of success taking on taxi laws this way; but the federal courts are much harder to intimidate this way than a city council or mayors office is.
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Ars Legatus Legionis
Rich people are modern day nobility. It would insult the honor of his millions to be held to the same standards as serfs like us.
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Jail time for what? This is a civil suit between Waymo and Uber, at the moment Levandowski is a bystander.
If some illegality comes up, then there may be a criminal trial, but at the moment it is all civil.
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Pure speculation here but it would be fun to discover that 1) Levandowski brought docs with him but they weren't actually of much use or benefit to Uber. 2) Uber ends up being out a great deal of money because for various reasons, Levandowski protected the money well. 3) Levandowski gets caught up in some sort of grifter scam while attempting to enjoy his ill gotten gains on some island resort. 4) Google doesn't really have to do much of anything because they never actually suffered much of a loss.
A boy can dream.
A boy can dream.
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No one has brought any criminal charges yet. While I'm not saying no one broke any laws here, there is a long way to go before jail time becomes a possibility.
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I genuinely hope, for innovations sake, and the future of all innovation, Google honey-potted their data to later use when uber has fully fledged fleets out running their tech.
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Unlikely - he was probably never actually paid all those millions. I've been having a hard time digging up any concrete details on the deal, but the one thing I did find was speculation that payout was contingent on certain deadlines and milestones. My guess is that he did get a handsome payout up front, but the lions share is something he will never see.
Also, if I recall Uber's letter in the last Ars article, it said that he would likely be fired for cause. That means his stock options have gone up in smoke, and it's Levandowski that will have to wait until the legal smoke clears to claw back what he lost, *if* he is somehow able to manage some favorable outcome, which seems very unlikely.
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So if he didn't steal those documents, what exactly did Uber buy with his company? He didn't have time to do anything new.
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Ars Legatus Legionis
Why do people keep saying stock options? It would be highly unusual for a company to acquire another company by paying the acquiring company with stock options. Deals are usually cash and equity or possibly equity alone.
Now seperate from the acquisition Levandowski like most Uber employees probably had employee stock option grants as a condition of his hiring and those are now shit canned.
I say this as someone who has worked for more than one startup including two that were eventually acquired.
On edit: now actually quoting the correct quote.
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I bet Uber knew about the docs, that's part of the hiring to acquire internal IP. What Google did wrong is paid him upfront all this money and got shafted.
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Otto was acquired for $680MM in Uber stock. Not "stock options", stock.
Levandowski probably has additional stock options as part of his employment, and if Uber terminated him for cause like they said they would, those should be dead. But Levandowski should still have his share of the $680MM in Uber stock doled out to Otto's owners. Uber might be legally able to claw that back... but will they?
Here's a thought. If Uber decides not to try to rescind the Otto purchase, then even with Levandowski being fired, he continues to hold many milllions of dollars worth of Uber stock... which is a hell of an incentive to stay quiet. At this point, the more he talks, the less his stock is worth...
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