Andy Byron has stepped down from his role as CEO of tech company Astronomer after a video of him holding a woman at a Coldplay concert went viral, according to a statement obtained by Variety. The woman was widely speculated to be Byron’s HR chief, Kristin Cabot.
“As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,” read the statement. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met. Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”
It continued, “Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI. While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not. We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data & AI problems.”
In a statement released Friday, the Astronomer said that its Board of Directors launched a “formal investigation” into the incident, and that a decision on Byron’s future at the company would come “very shortly.”
At a Coldplay concert Wednesday night in Foxborough, Mass., a fan cam found Bryon with his arms around a woman. Once spotted, they quickly moved away from each other and hid their faces from the camera. The couple was identified on social media, and the clip of them together has amassed tens of millions of views since it was posted late Wednesday.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin noticed the couple’s odd reaction on the arena’s jumbotron. As they ducked away, Martin joked, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”