Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

"Oh my god."

Wheel of Fortune

Today in clueless rich guys, we have Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who was stunned to learn how much it costs to take a three-mile ride in New York City using his company's app.

In a wide-ranging interview with Wired, Khosrowshahi was veritably stunned when the reporter questioning him asked if he knew how much a ride in the Big Apple costs.

"I traveled 2.95 miles in an Uber to get here today," the reporter, Steven Levy, asked the CEO. "What do you think it cost?"

"Twenty bucks," the CEO responded — and followed it up with an "Oh my god" and a "Wow" when the journalist told him he paid around $50 — and that when he'd first searched fares five minutes prior, it was $20 more than that figure.

Khosrowshahi claimed the price increase was due to "surge pricing," but Levy didn't let him off the hook.

"A surge makes no sense," the reporter quipped back. "It’s 10 am on a sunny weekday, and it’s not like the president’s in town."

Blame Game

As the back-and-forth continued, the journalist got Khosrowshahi to admit the reason for ever-increasing Uber prices: inflation, that old scoundrel.

"Do you worry that those who adopted the service because of attractive pricing might be rethinking their ridership?" Levy continued.

But the CEO was unfazed.

"Everything is more expensive," Khosrowshahi responded. "Inflation has become a part of our everyday life. With Uber, the vast majority of your fare is going to your driver."

That last part may not be exactly true. Uber is infamously opaque about how much of a cut the company takes from its drivers' fares, and drivers half self-reported that the company takes up to 50 percent of ride fares. Combined with drivers' responsibility for most of their gas and maintenance, that makes their piece of the pie a lot smaller.

As Wired noted after the CEO's comments, reports indicate that Uber fares have risen four times faster than the rate of inflation — but then again, the man doesn't even know how much it costs to get an Uber ride in New York.

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