Mother of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick killed in boating tragedy

The mother of the CEO of the ride-hailing company Uber has died in a boat accident,

Bonnie Kalanick, 71, died after the boat she and her husband, Donald, 78, were riding hit a rock in Pine Flat Lake in the eastern part of the county on Friday evening, authorities said.

They are the parents of Travis Kalanick, 40, who founded Uber in 2009. The company has since grown to become an international operation with a market value of nearly $70 billion.

The couple from the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Northridge have been longtime boaters. In a memo to Uber staff, Liane Hornsey, the chief human resources officer, called the incident an “unthinkable tragedy”.

She wrote that “everyone in the Uber family knows how incredibly close Travis is to his parents.”

About 5pm Friday, officers were called to the scene of the accident and found the Kalanicks on a shore of the lake, the Fresno County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.