Maybe I'm just cynical, but their response comes off as disingenuous.
If the toxic culture is as widespread as is being reported, there is absolutely no way the CEO could not know about it - either by participating in it, condoning it, or just turning a blind eye to it. To come off as so shocked, dismayed, and completely unaware that there is such an issue is ridiculous.
To be fair, I don't see any other way he could respond to this and still save himself.
This doesn't address, not to mention even attempt to fix the underlying problem. This just points fingers. You can say "shame on you, don't do this again" but it doesn't change the fact that (an) individual(s) thought their behavior was acceptable, tolerable, appreciated, appropriate...
Just PR as far as I'm concerned. A "yeah, you're right, we've been noted for this before; I (Travis) take responsibility, as it's my duty to ensure that all employees at Uber are treated with respect regardless of gender. I have put in place x and y program, with a required z course which, I believe, are necessary steps in the right direction in eliminating this at our great company" would suffice.
And then what?
Apparently, many other individuals either directly participated, or indirectly did nothing. Both are equally bad. This indicates a broken culture not just for the company, but for Silicon Valley and the industry as a whole.
It is likely that Uber employee demographics closely match Bay area. Are we to believe that for all the talk about liberalism, & progressiveness, when it comes to real action, SV employees will choose stock options instead?
Hiring Hoder to head an investigation is essentialy the strongest possible response from Uber. Time will tell if it's enough to win back Uber's urban, progressive leaning US market.
Both Holder and Huffington have reputations of using positions of power to advance progressive causes. Because that's their personal brand, it's pretty safe to assume that they will be giving more weight to that than to making the company look good.