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Self-driving truck technology developer TuSimple announced it terminated Xiaodi Hou, the company’s CEO, president and chief technology officer, and removed Hou from his position as chairman and as a member of the government security committee, effective Oct. 30.
Shares of TuSimple Holdings plunged, crashing by as much as 47.5% on Oct. 31.
The company reported these actions were taken in connection with an ongoing investigation led by the audit committee, which prompted the board of directors to conclude that a change of CEO was necessary.
A separate report from The Wall Street Journal said that federal investigators have launched an investigation into whether TuSimple executives improperly shared proprietary technology with a start-up based in China.
Federal investigators from the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission are probing whether executives improperly shared proprietary technology with Hydron, a start-up based in China and launched by Mo Chen, one of TuSimple’s co-founders, according to the Journal. Hou denied any wrongdoing in a WeChat post, according to Reuters.
Hou had only been CEO since March, when he was elevated to the position from Chief Technology Officer as part of a planned succession, replacing Cheng Lu in the role and Chen as chairman.
The San Diego-based TuSimple named Ersin Yumer as interim CEO. He is currently its executive vice president of operations during the executive search.
“I look forward to working with the board and the talented TuSimple team to continue to move the company forward,” Yumer said in a statement. “The leadership team firmly believes in the benefits of our technology and is committed to the company’s commercialization roadmap.”
The company hired Russell Reynolds Associates to identify a new chief executive officer with relevant experience. — Transport Topics
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