Uber CEO apologizes for top executive's plan to get revenge on reporters

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick tweeted a 13-part apology Tuesday, saying top executive Emil Michael's suggestion to hire opposition researchers and dig up dirt on journalists didn't represent the company.

Kalanick, Michael, and a BuzzFeed editor attended a dinner Friday night, where Michael floated the idea of spending "a million dollars" to hire four opposition researchers and four journalists to combat bad press. Michael believed the conversation was off the record. BuzzFeed disagreed, publishing a report Monday night.

Michael also apologized, through an Uber spokesman: "The remarks attributed to me at a private dinner... do not reflect my actual views and have no relation to the company's views or approach. They were wrong no matter the circumstance and I regret them."

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Kalanick is also getting backlash on Twitter for not firing Michael.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.