After a video of Mr. Kalanick getting into a heated argument with a driver surfaced this month, Mr.
Kalanick said he would seek leadership help, prompting the search for a chief operating officer.
In a statement to Recode, he said, “The beliefs and approach to leadership
that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber.”
Mr. McClendon, in a statement, said he was returning to his hometown, Lawrence, Kan., after 30 years away.
Mr. Jones’s exit is problematic for Uber, as many current and former employees had seen him as a natural successor or counterpart to Mr. Kalanick.
Jeff Jones, Uber’s president of ride sharing, has left the company after just six months, Uber said on Sunday.
Mr. Jones was viewed by many as the so-called adult in the room — an executive with experience
as a leader at a public company that had undergone a period of intense crisis.
Uber hired Mr. McClendon, a highly respected engineer in Silicon Valley, from Google nearly two
years ago to work on the company’s mapping and autonomous vehicle technology initiatives.
Raffi Krikorian, a well-regarded director in Uber’s self-driving division, left the company last week,
while Gary Marcus, who joined Uber in December after Uber acquired his company, left this month.
2 executive, resigned after the ride-sharing company’s chief, Travis Kalanick, said
he needed leadership help and began a search for a chief operating officer.