Dara Khosrowshahi (Persian: دارا خسروشاهی, Persian pronunciation: [dɑː’ɾɑː xosɾo’ʃɑːhiː]; born May 28, 1969) is an Iranian-American business executive who currently serves as the chief executive officer of Uber. Khosrowshahi was previously CEO of Expedia Group, a company that owns several travel fare aggregators. He also serves on the board of directors of BET.com and Hotels.com, and previously served on the board of The New York Times Company.
What is Dara Khosrowshahi’s Net Worth and Salary?
Dara Khosrowshahi is an Iranian-American businessman and CEO who has a net worth of $250 million dollars. On August 27, 2017, Dara was announced as the new CEO of ride sharing company Uber. Before becoming CEO of Uber Dara was the CEO of Expedia Group, an online travel shopping company that owns a number of travel fare aggregators. Khosrowshahi also sits on the board of directors of Hotels.com and BET.com, and formerly served on the board of the New York Times Company.
Salary and Stock Holdings
In 2015, Dara earned $94.6 million from Expedia, making him the highest paid CEO on the planet. He earned another $90 million in 2016 which made him the third highest paid CEO on the planet.
His annual base salary at Uber is $6.7 million. Upon joining Uber, Dara owned $85 million worth of vested Expedia stock options. He left behind an estimated $160 – $200 million in unvested stock options on the table when he left Expedia for Uber. To make up for this loss, Uber offered Dara a pay package that could ultimately exceed $200 million in incentive compensation.
On May 10, 2019 Uber became a public company. Khosrowshahi’s employment contract entitles him to receive an estimated $100 million bonus if Uber’s valuation hit $120 billion and stays there for at least 90 days, or if the company happens to be sold outright for that figure.
Early life and education
Khosrowshahi was born in 1969 in Iran into a prominent wealthy family and grew up in a mansion on his family’s compound. He is the youngest of the three children born to Lili and Asghar (Gary) Khosrowshahi. His family founded the Alborz Investment Company, a diversified conglomerate involved in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food, distribution, packaging, trading, and services.
In 1978, just before the Iranian Revolution, his family was targeted for its wealth and his mother decided to leave everything behind and flee the country. Their company was later nationalized. His family first fled to southern France. They were planning to come back to Iran if the revolution failed, but when that didn’t happen, they immigrated to the United States, eventually moving in with one of his uncles in Tarrytown, New York. Khosrowshahi’s mother had very little money to support her children, and having never worked before in Iran, started to work full time in the US to pay towards her sons education. In 1982, when Khosrowshahi was 13 years old, his father went to Iran to care for his grandfather. His father was not allowed to leave Iran for 6 years and thus Khosrowshahi spent his teenage years without seeing his father.
In 1987, he graduated from the Hackley School, a private university-preparatory school in Tarrytown. In 1991, he graduated with a B.S. in electrical and electronics engineering from Brown University, where he was a member of the social fraternity Sigma Chi.
Expedia
In 2001, IAC purchased the online travel agency Expedia; four years later, Khosrowshahi took over as CEO of its parent company, Expedia Group. Among the websites owned by the group are travel fare aggregators such as Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Travelocity, trivago, and Orbitz. In 2015, Expedia gave Khosrowshahi $90 million in stock options as part of an employment agreement contingent on him staying with the company until 2020.
During his tenure at Expedia, Khosrowshahi was one of the highest paid CEOs in the United States. Moreover, Expedia experienced significant growth, with the gross value of its travel bookings more than quadrupling and its pre-tax earnings more than doubling. The company also expanded its presence to over 60 countries around the world.
Uber
In August of 2017, Khosrowshahi succeeded company founder Travis Kalanick as CEO of Uber. Although he forfeited his unvested Expedia stock options, which were worth $184 million, Uber reportedly paid Khosrowshahi more than $200 million to take the role of CEO. His candidacy, however, was fraught with controversy, as the initial frontrunners Jeff Immelt and Meg Whitman became victims of poor presentations and deadlocked votes. Eventually, the private equity firm Benchmark, which had helped in the effort to push out Kalanick, promised to drop a lawsuit against the founder if the company named Whitman as the new CEO. Many read this as blackmail, ultimately leading to Khosrowshahi’s election.
At Uber, Khosrowshahi’s main job was to rehabilitate the image of the company, which had become mired in bad press over revelations about its immoral corporate culture. It had been heavily criticized for ignoring or evading local regulations; attempting to sabotage competitors; misleading drivers about their earnings; and not informing riders about data breaches. Additionally, the company faced several allegations of sexual harassment from employees. In May of 2019, Khosrowshahi led Uber in its stock launch.
Politics and Axios Controversy
Khosrowshahi has been involved in some political activities over the years. In 2016, he made donations to the Hillary Victory Fund and the Democratic National Committee, and also donated to the campaigns of Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Republican Senator Mike Lee.
In an interview with news website Axios in 2019, Khosrowshahi stirred controversy when he compared the political assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to the death of Elaine Herzberg by a self-driving Uber car. Specifically, he drew heavy criticism for calling them both “mistakes” that could “be forgiven.” The reason for this claim was that he was appeasing the Saudi government, which invests in Uber and has representation on its board of directors.
Personal Life and Relatives
From his first marriage to Kathleen Grant, which lasted until 2009, Khosrowshahi has two children: a son named Alex and a daughter named Chloe. Following their divorce, he married former preschool teacher and actress Sydney Shapiro in 2012. Together, they have twin sons named Hugo and Hayes.
Many of Khosrowshahi’s relatives are also wealthy entrepreneurs. His uncle Hassan is a billionaire investor and the founder of Future Shop, while his cousin Amir co-founded the artificial intelligence software company Nervana Systems. Another cousin named Golnar founded the music publishing company Reservoir Media. Additionally, Khosrowshahi’s relative Darian Shirazi is the founder of the software company Radius.
