Both the Astronomer CEO and his HR director, who had been involved in a high-profile affair, seemed to lead idyllic family lives before the incident, according to sources. This upheaval followed a public revelation that disrupted their personal and professional worlds.
Yesterday, Andy Byron, a tech entrepreneur aged 50, stepped down from his position after a video of him embracing Kristin Cabot, the 52-year-old HR head, circulated rapidly across the globe, drawing significant attention.
The incident occurred at a Coldplay concert in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 16, where the colleagues were caught on a kiss camera. They visibly panicked, quickly ducking and turning away in an effort to avoid recognition on the large screen.
Coldplay front man Chris Martin then cracked a joke which stirred rumours over the pair’s awkward reaction and sent the internet into a frenzy.
‘Oh look at these two! Oh what? Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy,’ Martin said to the crowd.
On Friday, after the video had gained millions of views on social media, New York-based Artificial Intelligence firm Astronomer addressed the viral moment and launched a ‘formal investigation’.
The billion-dollar company then announced the CEO’s resignation on Saturday, saying: ‘Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.’
The scandal has torpedoed the lives of Mr Byron and Ms Cabot, but the real victims are their respective partners, Megan Kerrigan and Andrew Cabot, who appeared to be living the American dream in huge suburban homes.
Tech tycoon Andy Byron (back), 50, yesterday resigned from his role after footage of him with his arms wrapped around Astronomer’s HR chief Kristin Cabot (front), 52, went viral
CEO Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot appeared to be living the American dream before the viral moment
Ms Kerrigan appears to have deleted joyful family photos with Mr Byron and their sons on Facebook.
Among the photos she had posted was one of the family smiling on a hiking trip and at a graduation for one of the boys.
In the hiking photo, the parents and their two children all have their arms around each other as they grin to the camera – all wearing caps – in front of a creek.
And in the graduation snap, Mr Byron and his two sons are dressed smartly in suits with Ms Kerrigan wearing a dress for the milestone moment. One of the sons is wearing his graduation gown and a mortarboard.
The photo was used as Ms Kerrigan’s Facebook cover photo until she first removed ‘Byron’ from her name and then deleted her entire profile on Thursday, wiping all of the pictures she had posted, the New York Post reports.
The outlet reports that Ms Cabot, meanwhile, is married to the CEO of a booze firm – and bought a massive $2.2million home in the seaside town of Rye, New Hampshire, with him less than five months ago.
It is unclear exactly when the pair tied the knot, but documents confirm that Ms Cabot, whose maiden name is Stanek, was married at the time of selling a $1.8m property in Watertown, Mass, earlier this year.
Property records show that the husband and wife purchased the two-story, four bedroom house in February.
Byron is also married, with his wife Megan Byron, removing his last name from her social media accounts shortly after the exchange with Chris Martin went viral
Another photo shows Andy Byron, his wife and their two children on a hike
Massachusetts property documents dated in January confirmed that Ms Cabot (left) is currently married to Andrew Cabot (centre), the chief executive of Privateer Rum, a Massachusetts-based booze maker
Ms Cabot even posed with his son Henry, 30, in the snaps, and was seen wearing a wedding ring at the event – which was missing during her cozy Coldplay date with Mr Byron
She has also shared a second home in the same town with her husband – the head of Privateer Rum – since at least 2023, according to the records.
The Massachusetts-based company described Mr Cabot as its CEO and COO, adding that he is an “ancestor, the original Andrew Cabot (1750-1791), was a merchant, rum distiller and successful American privateer during the American Revolution.”
Public documents show that he has been married at least twice before, in 1993 and 2014.
He shares two children with his first wife Maud, who shared a picture of her ex-husband with Cabot looking loved up at his daughters 25th birthday party on social media in April of last year.
Mr Cabot even posed with his son Henry, 30, in the snaps, and was seen wearing a wedding ring at the event – which was missing during her cozy Coldplay date with Byron.
Ms Cabot’s LinkedIn profile showed that she has been an ‘advisory board member’ for her husband’s company since 2020, but she has now deleted her account.
Astronomer was also a booming company before the scandal hit, reportedly raising nearly $100 from big investors.
In May, the company secured $93million in Series D funding from backers including Bain Capital, Salesforce, Venrock and Mertitech.
This was the moment the co-workers realised they were on camera and quickly ducked out the way
Astronomer announced the CEO’s resignation on Saturday following an internal investigation that put Byron and Cabot on leave on Friday
Mr Byron’s firm is valued at over $1 billion, with the company experiencing rapid growth since he became CEO in 2023.
But the American dream quickly turned into a nightmare for both Astronomer and the families involved last week.
The billion-dollar company announced the CEO’s resignation in a statement on Saturday.
‘As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,’ the statement said.
‘Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted.’
Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy will stay on as interim CEO.
‘While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not. We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.’
Astronomer acknowledge the awkward situation in the statement announcing Byron’s resignation.
‘Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,’ the statement read.
‘While awareness of our company may have changed over night our product and our work for our customers have not’.
