Austin Russell, who has become a billionaire after his startup Lidar Luminar has become public, seems to be out as CEO, according to the company’s board of directors.
The Board of Directors of Luminar announced on Wednesday-Lo Day of his report on the profits of the first quarter-Aveva replaced Russell and appointed Paul Ricci to the role. Ricci is the former president and CEO of Nuance.
The press release states that Russell resigned as president and CEO and as president of the Board of Directors, with immediate effect. The Council declared in the press release that the resignation followed a code of corporate conduct and an ethical investigation for the accounting committee of the Board of Directors of Luminar. Russell will remain on the Board of Directors and will be “available for the CEO coming on transition and technology”, according to the press release.
However, it is not clear whether Russell was forced to go out or if he has gladly halved. Russell could not be reached for a comment. The Council did not provide further details on this ethical investigation, except for the fact that “it does not have an impact on the company’s financial results”.
In a further turning point, the report on the company’s profits and the presentation of the slides do not mention the change of leadership. The press release of the first quarter also includes an optimistic declaration by Russell that outlines the company’s strategy to reduce costs with its new Halo product.
“In a world of macro uncertainty and adversity, we are shooting on all cylinders to increase production, increase costs and capitalize on the future, as shown today by our ads,” said Russell in the declaration. “This starts our new operational plan to luminar with a platform of unified products, allowing the radical focus and the rationalization of the business, as well as unlocking the value throughout our organization.”
In the meantime, the table press release tells another story.
“We are thrilled to announce Paul as our next CEO,” said the member of the Matrum Simoncini Council in a note. “His track record speaks alone. He is a visionary leader with a rare combination of technical intuition and operational excellence. His commitment for innovation, his ability to downsize organizations and his instinct to anticipate where technology is guiding him make him the ideal person to guide us in our next chapter of growth. The board of directors has full confidence in his leadership and we are enthusiastic about what is enthusiastic about what is enthusiastic about what is enthusiastic about what in front of.”
Simonici, who retired as CEO of Lear in 2018, is president of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, which also includes Jun Hong Heng, who is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of the Crescent Cove Advisers technological investment company, the founder of Evergreen Capital Partners Dominick Schiano and Daniel Tempesta, who worked as an Executive VP and CFO at Nuance.
Luminar entered the autonomous scene of vehicles in April 2017 after working for years secret. Russell, who was only 22 at the time, was put in the spotlight and became a success story of Silicon Valley. Luminar was founded by Russell in 2012, but years would have passed before his company was known by the public. He worked on light technology like Thiel Fellow, who offers young $ 100,000 in two years to abandon college and pursue their ideas.
In 2021, Luminar merged with the acquisition of special purposes Gores Metropoulos Inc., with an evaluation of the post-deale market of $ 3.4 billion. Luminar collected $ 250 million before the Spac announcement.
