"I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investors request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight," Kalanick said in a statement obtained by The New York Times late on Tuesday night in California.

Kalanick will stay on Uber's board of directors.

He faced strong opposition from Uber shareholders, ultimately forcing him to step down, The Times' Mike Isaac reported.

Citing two unnamed sources close to the discussions, Isaac wrote that Kalanick's exit followed "hours of drama" between Uber's major investors, five of whom demanded his immediate resignation. The venture-capital firm Benchmark was one of the loudest voices on that front, Isaac wrote. Bill Gurley, a partner at Benchmark, also sits on Uber's board.