Uber just handed the CFO reins to Balaji Krishnamurthy, its VP of strategic finance and investor relations, in a move that signals the ride-hailing giant's escalating bet on autonomous vehicles. Krishnamurthy, who's spent six years at Uber and holds a board seat at self-driving startup Waabi, replaces Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah as the company targets becoming the world's largest facilitator of AV trips by 2029. The timing isn't coincidental—it comes as Uber posts $14.37 billion in Q4 revenue and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi declares autonomous vehicles a "multi-trillion dollar opportunity."
Uber is betting big on a driverless future, and it's putting someone who lives and breathes autonomous vehicles in charge of the money. Balaji Krishnamurthy, the company's VP of strategic finance and investor relations for over six years, is stepping into the CFO role just as Uber accelerates its autonomous vehicle ambitions. He's replacing Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, who's departing after three years at the ride-hailing giant.
The appointment isn't just a standard executive shuffle. Krishnamurthy's resume reads like a roadmap for where Uber wants to go—he's been vocal about the company's self-driving initiatives and sits on the board of Waabi, an autonomous vehicle startup backed by major players in the space. That kind of positioning doesn't happen by accident when you're about to write checks for AV infrastructure.
During Uber's Q4 earnings call on Wednesday, Krishnamurthy laid out the financial strategy: invest directly in AV software partners, take equity stakes in autonomous vehicle makers, pursue offtake agreements, and bankroll AV infrastructure partners. "With large and growing free cash flows, over the coming years we will invest with discipline across a multitude of opportunities, including positioning Uber to win in an AV future," he wrote in the Q4 results statement.
