Uber Vietnam fills vacated CEO position

Uber Vietnam has appointed a new CEO following the abrupt departure of its previous leader two weeks ago.

Tom White, an Australian who joined Uber in January 2015, is now holding this chair.

White will be in Hanoi soon to take up the position, a source close to the matter told VnExpress.

According to his Linkedin profile, White worked as Uber’s head of cities in Australia and New Zealand from July to September this year after leaving his position as general manager in Western and Southern Australia, which he held from February 2016 to June 2017.

Before that, he was Uber’s city leader in Perth from July 2015 to February 2016 and demand manager for the U.S.-based ride-hailing firm from January to July, 2015.

“I’m excited to be setting sail for Vietnam to help the Uber team there write their next chapter of their story,” White wrote in a Tweet last month.

Earlier this month, Dang Viet Dung, the first CEO of Uber Vietnam, left after holding the position for three years.

No information about the reasons for his departure has been revealed to date.

His departure triggered speculation that Uber Vietnam was in a crisis, especially after a recent tax scandal.

Late last month, tax authorities in Ho Chi Minh City collected VND66.68 billion ($2.93 million) in arrears from Uber Vietnam, including fines for faulty declarations and late payments.

Following the incident, rumors started to spread that Uber would be leaving Vietnam. The company was quick to dismiss this.

As of August, Uber had four million users in Vietnam, according to official company data.