At an all-hands meeting meant to deal with a report highlighting a culture of sexism at Uber, TPG co-founder and Uber board member David Bonderman cracked a bad joke about women talking too much.
Bonderman made the comment to fellow board member Arianna Huffington. According to Yahoo Finance, the exchange was as follows:
Huffington: “There’s a lot of data that shows when there’s one woman on the board, it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board.”
Bonderman: “Actually what it shows is it’s much likely to be more talking.”
Huffington: “Oh. Come on, David.”
Bonderman quickly issued a note of apology to Uber staff, a TPG spokesman said:
“I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment that was directed at her during today’s discussion. It was inappropriate. I also want to apologize to all Uber employees who were offended by the remark. I deeply regret it.”
Bonderman also personally apologized to Huffington, a source with knowledge of the situation said.
The TPG spokesman did not respond to a question asking if Bonderman will leave the Uber board of directors. UPDATE: Bonderman has resigned from Uber’s board, Reuters said. Bonderman, in a statement to Reuters, said he did not want his comments to create distraction for Uber, which is working to rid its culture of sexual harassment and discrimination. His resignation from Uber’s board is effective Wednesday morning.
Bonderman, who co-founded TPG in 1992, joined Uber’s board of directors in 2013 after TPG participated in a $258 million funding round in the company, led by Google Ventures.
Photo: David Bonderman, founding partner of TPG, takes part in Private Equity: Rebalancing Risk session during the 2014 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California April 29, 2014. REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian
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