Uber Promotes Company Veteran to COO as CEO Says He’s Not Going ‘Anywhere’

Uber Technologies Inc. named longtime executive Andrew Macdonald as its first chief operating officer since 2019, part of an executive shake-up that includes the departure of the company’s top delivery leader.

Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, senior vice president of delivery, has decided to leave Uber after nearly 13 years, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in a memo seen by Bloomberg News. In his place, the company is promoting Macdonald, Gore-Coty’s counterpart for the mobility unit, to the dual roles of president and COO. From his new perch, he’ll oversee both businesses along with cross-platform efforts like advertising, customer support and the company’s autonomous vehicles strategy, according to a company spokesperson.

Macdonald, known to colleagues as “Mac,” will be the rideshare giant’s first COO since Barney Harford stepped down in 2019, shortly after Uber went public.

“This is a natural next step in our evolution as a company,” wrote Khosrowshahi in the memo. Consolidating the leadership of core business units under Macdonald will help “accelerate” its efforts to increase customer engagement across its services, he added.

“While we’ve made progress, today less than 1 in 5 of our consumers use both mobility and delivery in a given quarter,” he wrote. “So we have a ton of opportunity in the years ahead, and by bringing both businesses closer together along with Core Services, the engine of Uber, we can accelerate our efforts.”

Khosrowshahi also reassured employees in his note that he has no plans to go “anywhere anytime soon” after the promotion of a top executive. “I recognize the change might prompt some questions about my future, so I’ll be clear: I have no plans to go anywhere anytime soon — other than fly around the globe trying to keep up with our ever-growing footprint,” he said.

Shares of Uber were little changed in extended trading after closing at $83.64. The stock has climbed almost 39% so far this year.

Macdonald will relocate to New York from Toronto in September, according to the memo, following the Khosrowshahi’s own move to the city last year. Macdonald joined the company in 2012 as its first general manager in Toronto and subsequently climbed the ranks to join the executive team.

As part of the changes, the company is also promoting three long-tenured employees to its leadership team, the spokesperson said. Pradeep Parameswaran, who currently leads business development and Uber For Business and previously led the Asia-Pacific mobility business, has been named global head of mobility. Susan Anderson, who currently leads grocery and retail, was appointed global head of delivery, and Sarfraz Maredia, the head of the Americas delivery business, now has the title of global head of autonomous mobility and delivery.