Astronomer board launches investigation after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video appears to show CEO embracing HR chief
The video clip went viral on social media, propelling the tech company into the spotlight.
"We will have additional details to share very shortly," the company said.
Tech company Astronomer is launching an investigation after its CEO, Andy Byron, appeared to be filmed embracing the company's head of HR at a Coldplay concert.
"The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly," the company said in a statement on X. It added that "no other employees were in the video" and that reports saying Byron has put out a statement are incorrect.
"Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability," the statement said.
The investigation is the next chapter in a saga that commanded social media's rapt attention.
A clip appearing to show Byron and Kristin Cabot, Astronomer's head of people, caught in "kiss cam"-style crowd footage at a Coldplay concert went viral on Thursday. The pair appeared horrified to be broadcast on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium and quickly untwined, prompting Coldplay front man Chris Martin to speculate that they were "having an affair or they're just very shy."
The internet became fascinated with the narrative. Byron's name was the top trending search term on Google on Thursday, and tens of millions have watched the clip.
Commentators on X and TikTok joked about the awkward scenario. The company turned off comments on its LinkedIn and X accounts as they became flooded with them.
People even placed bets — over $250,000 was traded on Polymarket — on Byron's chances of remaining as CEO.
For more than 24 hours, the company and its leadership — the board, active founders, and Byron — stayed quiet about the scandal and did not respond to requests for comment from the media or release a statement.
Ry Walker, who served as Astronomer CEO from 2015 to 2022, put out a comment: "Yes, I was co-founder and early CEO - not on the team or board since 2022, and have no information on ColdplayGate," Walker wrote on X.
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron's career history
Founded in 2015, Astronomer builds data management and optimization products that it says are used by companies like Activision and Marriott. In May, it completed a Series D funding round that valued the company at $775 million, according to PitchBook.
Byron came on as CEO in July 2023 after holding C-suite roles at several other software and tech firms. In November 2024, he hired Cabot as the company's head of people.
Byron worked at several software companies in the decades before he took the reins at Astronomer. He worked from 2019 to 2023 as an executive at Lacework, a cloud security company that was sold last year for an estimated $200 million to $230 million, according to Forrester Research.
For about two years before Lacework, he was the chief revenue officer at Cybereason, another software company. The company is privately held and raised a series H venture-capital round earlier this year, according to PitchBook data. Its head count and valuation grew while Byron worked there, but its head count has since declined, and its valuation fell significantly from 2022 to 2023, per PitchBook.
He has worked in the Boston tech scene for more than a decade. Earlier jobs included a sales executive role at Fuze, which sold communications and messaging software. It was sold in 2022 for $250 million, and at Aveksa, which was acquired in 2013 by RSA, an EMC subsidiary, for a reported price of $225 million.
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