Gillian Tan, Columnist

Is Private Equity More Sexist Than Uber?

A tone-deaf quip by a board member shines a light on a male-dominated industry.

June 14, 2017 at 3:36 PM UTC

Gillian Tan is a senior reporter covering finance and alternative asset classes including real estate, infrastructure, private equity, private credit, venture capital and sports business. She previously wrote an opinion column for Bloomberg and was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. She is a qualified chartered accountant.

1497455481_pic — Photographer: Paulo Duarte/Bloomberg

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In trying to clean up its own act, Uber Technologies Inc. -- the ride-hailing startup whose boys-run-amok corporate culture forced an internal probe over sexual misconduct and gender discrimination -- has inadvertently shown a light on another male-dominated corner of the corporate world: private equity.

For this, we can thank David Bonderman, the 74-year-old TPG Capital co-founder also known as "Bondo," who was a member of Uber's board. That changed after Tuesday, when at an all-hands meeting to address changes at Uber he made a quip to fellow director Arianna Huffington as she discussed the addition of another woman (Wan Ling Martello) to the board. In case you missed it, the exchange went like this: