Andy Byron has resigned as chief executive officer (CEO) of Astronomer, a US-based software company, after a video showing him in an intimate moment with Kristin Cabot, the company’s chief people officer, went viral.
The incident took place during a Coldplay concert on July 16.
Byron, who is married, was captured on the stadium’s “kiss cam,” embracing Cabot and attempting to avoid the camera.
In response to their reaction, Chris Martin, Coldplay’s lead singer, on stage, said either “they are having an affair or they are just very shy”.
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The clip drew widespread criticism online and triggered several media reports.
Axios reported that over 22,000 articles mentioned Astronomer within 24 hours, and 9,000 of them focused on Byron.
In response, Astronomer initially dismissed online speculation and said it will launch an internal investigation on the matter.
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However, in a statement on Friday, the company revealed that Byron had stepped down as CEO.
Astronomer said Cabot was placed on leave, and Pete DeJoy, the company’s co-founder, will serve as interim CEO.
“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” the company said.
The company recently raised $93 million in a Series D funding round.
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Astronomer said its operations remain unaffected by the leadership change.
“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” Astronomer said.
“While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.”
Following the video’s circulation, Megan Kerrigan, Byron’s wife, removed his surname from her Facebook page and made her account private.
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