Uber poaches Rachel Whetstone from Google

Uber has poached Google's communications and policy chief Rachel Whetstone, less than a year after the car-hailing service hired former presidential adviser David Plouffe to smooth its rocky relationship with regulators.

Mr Plouffe, an architect of President Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign who joined Uber in August, will take a seat on its board. He will continue as a full-time employee, advising chief executive Travis Kalanick on policy and strategy, as well as advocating for Uber externally, although he will no longer hold a day-to-day communications role.

With 10 years experience at one of the world's most valuable yet often controversial tech companies, Ms Whetstone arrives as Uber prepares to raise another huge round of funding as it pushes into new lines of business such as food delivery.

Her appointment also highlights the growing overlap and tension between Uber, which is investing in its own mapping and autonomous-driving technology, and Google, one of its largest investors after leading 2013's $258m funding round. Uber has been seen as a potential buyer of Nokia's mapping unit, Here, in order to reduce its dependence on Google Maps.

At Google, Ms Whetstone's policy team will now report to David Drummond, its chief legal officer and an Uber board member.

The latest in a string of executive departures from Google over the past year, Ms Whetstone's move comes at a critical time as it faces off with European regulators. Her exit follows that of Nikesh Arora, another long-serving Google executive who joined SoftBank as vice-chairman last summer, Jill Hazelbaker, another senior member of its communications team who took a similar role at Snapchat, and Patrick Pichette, who announced his retirement as its finance chief in March.

Uber has also seen management changes with the departure of its chief financial officer Brent Callinicos, a former Google treasurer, in March - a signal that it may be looking to hire someone with more public-company experience.

The San Francisco-based company is home to many former Google staffers, while also recruiting from around Silicon Valley including Facebook, Apple and Amazon, as well as from the finance industry such as Goldman Sachs.

Ms Whetstone's move echoes that of her predecessor at Google, Elliot Schrage, who was poached by Facebook to lead its communications and policy team in 2008.

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His nine months there has contributed to a change in the tone of Uber's messaging, as its war-on-taxi rhetoric has given way to a more conciliatory approach. Mr Kalanick, who once described his competition as "an asshole named Taxi", has become more measured in his public comments.

Uber has promised to hire tens of thousands of US army veterans and pledged to create 50,000 European jobs this year, despite regulatory skirmishes in France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands in recent months.

The US Federal Trade Commission has written to state and city legislators urging them not to pass laws that would outlaw Uber-style ridesharing and protect the traditional taxi industry.

Yet at the same time, Uber still faces a barrage of legal challenges from India to Europe. The FTC is also looking into how companies such as Uber and Airbnb ensure customers' safety and protect their personal data.

Uber is looking to raise upwards of $1.5bn in new funding at a valuation of $50bn or more, it was reported last week. Earlier on Wednesday, regulatory filings confirmed the close of Uber's most recent fundraisings of $2.8bn in equity and $1.7bn debt, which valued the company at more than $40bn.

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