The chief financial officer of Uber has resigned, one of the latest and most blatant signs that the ride-hailing app company is in the fast lane for an initial-public offering.
Brent Callinicos, who previously held finance jobs at Google, Microsoft and Walt Disney, is stepping down as Uber’s CFO, the company confirmed Monday. Callinico’s exit, while framed as a decision for him to spend more time with his family, is likely a signal that Uber is gearing up for an IPO. Startups that have their eye on a Wall Street debut often swap out their CFO for one with experience taking a company public. Uber is widely expected to have an IPO this year, and a blockbuster one at that.
Last month, Dropbox hired Vanessa Wittman to be its a new chief financial officer; she was the former finance chief of Google’s Motorola division and had experience as CFO at publicly traded companies. Dropbox’s former CFO, while an early hire at the company, lacked financial leadership experience at a public company.
Dropbox is another strong candidate for a 2015 IPO; it has raised more than $600 million and is worth about $10 billion.
Uber said in an email Monday that is was the company’s decision for Callinicos to move on to other endeavors. The email was sent to investors and reprinted in part in the Wall Street Journal.
“Almost two years ago, I brought on one of the great financial operators in Silicon Valley as our CFO,” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick wrote. “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.”
Callinicos leaves Uber after two years of tremendous fund-raising accomplishments. Under his watch, Uber raised two monster rounds of funding last year — $1.2 billion each, the largest venture investments of 2014 — and another $2.8 billion last month. He helped the company raise more capital from investors than any private, venture-backed company in history, according to Dow Jones data. The company is valued at $41 billion, the highest-valued venture-backed company in the country.
Gautam Gupta, formerly a Goldman Sachs vice president and investment banker who joined Uber in 2013 to head business operations, will be acting head of finance until Uber hires a new CFO to lead the company through its IPO.
