Austin Russell, who became a billionaire after his start of Lidar Luminar appeared in public, appears to be out of CEO, according to the company board.
The Luminar Board announced on Wednesday-on the same day of the first quarter profits report-it had replaced Russell and appointed the role Paul Ricci. Ricci is the former chairman and the nuance CEO.
The press release says Russell resigned as President and CEO and as Chairman of the Board, in force immediately. The board said in the press release, the resignation followed a code of business behavior and ethics investigation into the Luminar Board Audit Committee. Russell will remain on board and will be “available to the chief executive at the entrance for transition and technology issues”, according to the release.
However, it is not clear whether Russell was forced to go out or if he resigned willingly. Russell cannot be reached for comment. The Board did not provide further details of this investigation of ethics, except that “does not affect any of the company’s financial results”.
In a further turn, the company’s profits report and the slide presentation does not mention any change of leadership. The first quarter press release even includes an optimistic statement from Russell describing the company’s strategy to reduce the cost with its new Halo product.
“In a world of macro insecurity and disasters, we are resting from all cylinders to increase production, avoid costs and benefit from the future, as evidenced by our announcements today,” Russell said in the statement. “This begins our new Luminar Plan with a unified product platform, enabling radical concentration and business arrangement, as well as unlocking value throughout our organization.”
Meanwhile, the press release from the board tells another story.
“We are excited to inform Paul as our next CEO,” Board member Matt Simoncini said in a statement. “His trail record speaks himself. He is a visionary leader with a rare combination of technical penetration and operational excellence. His commitment to innovation, his ability to scale organizations, and his instinct to predict where technology is going, make him the ideal person to bring us to the next chapter. for what the lies ahead. ”
Simonic is the chairman of the board audit committee, which also includes Jun Hong Heng, who is the founder and leading investment official of the Technology Investment Firm, Crescent Cove Advizisers, Evergreen founder Capital Dominick Schiano and Daniel Tempesta, who served as Executive VP and CFO.
Luminar broke out on the autonomous vehicle scene in April 2017 after operating for years in secret. Russell, who was only 22 years old at the time, became in the spotlight and became a success story of Silicon Valley. Luminar was founded by Russell in 2012, but would pass years before his company was recognized by the public. He worked on Luminar Technology as a Thiel collaborator, who gives young people $ 100,000 over two years to abandon the college and pursue their ideas.
In 2021, Luminar joined the company with special purposes Gores Metropoulos Inc., with a market rating after the $ 3.4 billion agreement. Luminar gathered $ 250 million before the SPAC announcement.
