Terran Orbital is suing its former CTO, Austin Williams, just over a month after he and other shareholders publicly called for a change in the company’s leadership.
Williams was a co-founder of satellite design and manufacturing company Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, which was acquired by Terran Orbital in 2014 and has since become the core of the business. He is one of the few senior engineers who resigned in November 2022; According to reports From space news At the time, the trio resigned amid ongoing disagreements between the engineering and manufacturing departments over how to achieve production goals.
Terran Orbital’s complaint filed on Nov. 13 alleges that Williams did not provide adequate advance notice of termination in accordance with his employment agreement. The company also alleges that his conduct acted against the best interest of the company and lacked good faith, which constituted a breach of his fiduciary duty and was detrimental to the company. Williams “acted with oppression, fraud and malice,” the complaint said.
The company also states that Williams was “aided and abetted” by a number of unidentified people, whom it identifies in the lawsuit as “[John] Is 1-100. Terran will update the complaint.”“When the true identities of any person are confirmed,” the suit says.
The lawsuit against Williams comes just over a month after he and other investors publicly called on Terran’s board to make a radical change in the company’s leadership — including appointing a new CEO in place of Mark Bell and “reshaping” the board. The investor group, which owns approximately 8.4% of the company’s outstanding shares, They posted their letter publicly to the board Calling for these changes on October 12. The group declined to comment on this story.
The group, which includes Tyvak’s other co-founders Jordi Puig Soare and Roland Coelho, says in their letter that the company “operates from a position of weakness due to leadership errors, lack of internal controls, corporate mismanagement, and loss.” For general market confidence.” They cite a $2.6 billion backlog and the company’s pathetic stock price – $0.81 as of today.
The first letter states that Williams “would welcome the opportunity to explore” a return to the company provided changes are implemented.
The group sent two more messages. The third letter was sent on November 9, just four days before Terran filed suit against Williams. In it, they reiterate their request to meet with the board to discuss their proposals, including discussing the CEO candidate the group has identified to replace Bell.
“It is simply unacceptable for the Board of Directors to refuse to meet with us and instead decide to adopt a hostile and dismissive attitude towards us as shareholders,” the letter said. “We believe such a situation would only erode shareholder value and market confidence in Terran.”
While a lawsuit should be evaluated on its merits, it is not uncommon for a company to sue a departing executive after a full year for failing to provide adequate notice. Observers, like other shareholders, may reasonably interpret the company’s actions in this context as retaliatory or punitive, regardless of the outcome.
The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of California under Case No. 30-2023-01361218-CU-BC-CJC.