Astronomer CEO Andy Byron has resigned from the DataOps company after the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert captured his presumed affair with a woman believed to be his head of HR.
The company confirmed in a statement shared with the Daily News on Saturday that Byron had stepped down.
“As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” the statement said. “Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted.”
The company said it would begin a search for its next leader, while its co-founder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy will step in to serve as interim CEO.
“While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not,” Astronomer continued. “We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.”
Astronomer has been making headlines since Wednesday, when Coldplay frontman Chris Martin pointed to a man and a woman seen cuddling up on the kiss cam at the band’s concert in Boston. Upon realizing they were on the jumbotron, the woman quickly hid her face while the man ducked down and out of frame, sparking speculation about their relationship.
“Oh, look at these two,” Martin said. “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.”
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Chris Martin of Coldplay. (Getty)
Savvy social media users quickly identified the man as Byron — who’s married and reportedly shares two kids with Megan Kerrigan Byron — and the woman as his Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot.
In the wake of the incident, footage of the moment went viral online and numerous fake statements attributed to the CEO circulated on social media.
News of Byron’s resignation comes one day after Astronomer released a legitimate statement announcing it had launched a formal investigation into the debacle.
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