Astronomer, the software company that’s been in the spotlight since its CEO, Andy Byron, went viral for cuddling with a co-worker at a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium, announced Saturday Byron resigned.
In an emailed update to the Globe Saturday afternoon, an Astronomer spokesperson said that company leaders “are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”
Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy is serving as interim CEO while the board of Astronomer searches for the company’s next chief executive, according to the spokesperson.
“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space,” the spokesperson said. “While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.”
Astronomer had announced a formal investigation into the incident in a statement on LinkedIn Friday.
It also clarified that Astronomer employee Alyssa Stoddard was not at the concert, as some internet sleuths had erroneously alleged, adding that “Byron has not put out any statement, reports saying otherwise are all incorrect.”
Byron and co-worker Kristin Cabot vaulted to internet infamy after a “kiss cam” at Wednesday’s concert caught them canoodling in a box seat. Cabot, wearing a sleeveless black dress, immediately covered her face and turned her back on the camera. Byron, a little slower on the draw, ducked out of the frame.
“Oh, look at these two,” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said from the stage. “Uh oh, what? Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”
The incident, caught on video, spread quickly on social media, where one post has been viewed more than 60 million times.
Online minions quickly identified the mortified couple as Byron and Cabot, who holds the title of chief people officer at Astronomer, a tech firm valued at more than $1 billion.
Misinformation soon followed: Not only did online detectives misidentify a fellow concertgoer as Astronomer employee Stoddard, but a statement spuriously attributed to Byron soon made the rounds.
Real estate records indicate that Byron and his wife, Megan Kerrigan Byron, purchased a home in Northborough.
Press reports indicate that Kerrigan Byron removed her last name from her Facebook profile before deleting her account after speculation of her husband’s infidelity went viral.
Byron and Cabot, who’ve yet to make a public statement, have deleted their social media profiles as well.
Malcolm Gay can be reached at malcolm.gay@globe.com.