US hedge fund billionaire William “Bill” Ackman slammed Uber for ‘stealing’ tips from its drivers. The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said that he took an Uber ride in New York City during which the Uber driver complained about the company keeping drivers’ tips for itself. He said that the Uber driver “explained that even when the passenger agreed to pay a tip to the driver on the Uber app, the driver did not receive a tip and Uber kept the tip for itself. His screen showed that I paid no tip.”
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Slamming Uber for not passing on tips to its riders, he said, “Uber is massively increasing its margins and profits in NYC by ripping off NYC cab drivers."
The hedge fund billionaire said that texted the CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, about the issue. He added, “He did not respond. I like Dara, but this is really bad. I can only assume that Dara is unaware of this. Uber needs to immediately return the stolen funds with interest to the NYC taxi drivers and to other drivers in any other markets where they are doing the same and they should deeply apologize.”
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Uber responded explaining that all tips are passed on to the drivers but sometimes do not show up on their screens.
{{/usCountry}}Uber responded explaining that all tips are passed on to the drivers but sometimes do not show up on their screens.
{{/usCountry}}“We pass 100% of the tip to Curb (our taxi partner), and they are required to pass the tip to the driver, usually within a day or so. The tip isn't showing on this screen because passengers tip after the trip ends, and this screen doesn't refresh,” Uber explained.
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William Ackman later shared, “I was glad to learn from Uber that the drivers are receiving their tips. That said, the taxi drivers themselves believe that they are not receiving them because their dashboards show no tips from Uber riders. I spoke with Dara today and he confirmed that a fix is immediately underway. As I said in my initial post on the subject, I am an Uber and Dara fan and am confident that this will be rectified shortly.”