Magic Leap CEO to step down
by Manny PhamMixed reality headset manufacturer Magic Leap announced founder and CEO Rony Abovitz will leave his role at the helm of the company, as it seeks a new head for a shift to the enterprise market.
In a blog post, Abovitz said the company closed “significant” new funding and is venturing towards “key strategic enterprise partnerships”.
Abovitz explained with the company transitioning from consumer headset sales to the business sector his resignation was a “natural next step”.
“I discussed this with the board and we have agreed that now is the time to bring in a new CEO who can help us to commercialise our focused plan for spatial computing in enterprise. We have been actively recruiting candidates for this role and I look forward to sharing more soon”, said Abovitz.
The outgoing chief executive will remain in charge until a replacement is found. He is also in talks over his future role with the company at board-level.
Abovitz founded Magic Leap in 2011 and since then it has raised more than $2.3 billion in funding from major players including NTT Docomo, Google and Alibaba.
However, this year has proved turbulent for the company. In March rumours emerged the company was mulling a partial or full sale of the business then a month later it announced staff lay-offs.
Since then it reportedly received an investment of $350 million.