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Controversy followed: There were allegations of a culture of widespread sexism at Uber; a federal lawsuit by Waymo, Google's self-driving car company, accused the company of stealing its designs, leading ultimately to Uber's firing of Anthony Levandowski, the central figure in the allegations; and the Department of Justice opened an investigation into a software Uber used to sidestep authorities. Amid this Kalanick's own PR troubled mounted: He was filmed berating an Uber driver; it emerged he directed his engineers to camouflage the Uber app so Apple's engineers wouldn't see it, allowing the app to secretly track iPhones even after it was deleted; and at least one high-profile departure from the company said "the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber." Ultimately the very attributes that made Kalanick and Uber a darling of Silicon Valley's investors brought about his downfall. The company has been valued at about $70 billion, and investors feared that any initial-public offering would be imperiled by Uber's temperamental CEO. Taking a start-up chief executive to task so publicly is relatively unusual in Silicon Valley, where investors often praise entrepreneurs and their aggressiveness, especially if their companies are growing fast. It is only when those start-ups are in a precarious position or are declining that shareholders move to protect their investment.