Travis Kalanick defends failed Uber-Lyft acquisition

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick stated in a recent interview with Andreessen Horowitz that he has no regrets regarding the failed 2014 acquisition talks between Uber and its rival, Lyft.

Kalanick noted that while he had wanted the deal to succeed to reduce the high costs of competing for market share, the two companies were too culturally different. He specifically cited Lyft’s use of the “pink mustache” branding as an early indicator of this mismatch. The 2014 negotiations collapsed after Kalanick refused to exceed a $2 billion valuation, which was lower than Lyft’s asking price.

Kalanick, who resigned from Uber in 2017, has since launched a robotics company called Atoms.