Astronomer issues huge update after CEO Andy Byron's Coldplay kiss cam scandal

Astronomer issued a new update today following the kiss cam scandal involving its previous CEO and Head of HR.

The American tech company made headlines worldwide after former executive Andy Byron was caught canoodling his colleague, Kristin Cabot, at a Coldplay concert in Boston, Massachusetts, last week. The pair, who are married but not to each other, were left red-faced after the camera pointed at them during the gig - and their reaction went viral on social media. In the video, Mr Byron can be seen quickly moving out of sight while Ms Cabot covers her face and turns around.

READ MORE: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron RESIGNS after viral kiss cam video at Coldplay concert

Their reaction prompted Coldplay singer Chris Martin to joke that they were either "having an affair or just very shy." Following the incident, Astronomer launched an investigation and said Mr Byron had been placed on leave, with Chief Product Officer and co-founder Pete DeJoy stepping in as interim CEO.

Then on Saturday, Astronomer confirmed Mr Byron had resigned. In a new update today, Astronomer confirmed Mr DeJoy has been appointed as CEO following his brief stint as interim CEO. He said in a post on LinkedIn that he is stepping into the role "with a wholehearted commitment to taking care of our people and delivering for our customers."

He acknowledged that over the past few days, Astronomer has received a level of media attention that few companies, especially start-ups, receive, and admitted that the spotlight has been "unusual and surreal" for the team. However, he vowed to continue working in the field of data and AI while taking accountability for any challenges that are thrown their way.

Mr DeJoy wrote: "Over the weekend, I stepped into the role of Interim CEO at Astronomer, a company that I've proudly poured my entire professional life into helping build. Over the past few years, our business has experienced incredible growth. What was once a mission to help companies with Apache Airflow has turned into so much more. We’re privileged to sit at the center of our customers' data & AI strategy, powering data pipelines behind in-game analytics of your favorite sports team, LLM powered chatbots for customer support, training AI for self-driving cars, and every mission-critical process in between.

"The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies - let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world - ever encounter. The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.

"At Astronomer we have never shied away from challenges; a near-decade of building this business has tested us time and time again, and each time we’ve emerged stronger. From starting a software company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to keeping the lights on through the collapse of the bank that held all our cash, to scaling from 30 to 300 people during a global pandemic that demanded we do it all without ever being in the same room. And yet, we’re still here."

He continued: "We're here because Astronomer is built by people who live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way. We're here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects. And, most importantly, we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment.

"I'm stepping into this role with a wholehearted commitment to taking care of our people and delivering for our customers. Astronomer's foundation remains strong, built around the thriving Apache Airflow community. Our opportunity to build a DataOps platform for the age of AI remains massive. And our story is very much still being written.

"To our team: thank you for your resilience & commitment to building something great. And to our community and customers: thank you for your trust. We won't let you down."

Mr Byron had been the CEO of the software development company since July 2023. Astronomer is reportedly worth more than $1.3billion (£1b). The Economic Times suggest his net worth stands anywhere between $20million (£14.8m) and $70million (£52m). While Mr Byron resigned, Astronomer has remained silent on the HR Head, and Mrs Cabot's future in the company remains unclear.