Sources Magic Coo Cmolangleyinsider – Multiple sources have confirmed that Magic Leap’s top technical and marketing executives are all set to leave the company. The latest is its CTO, John Monos, who plans to step down today.
Monos’ departure follows that of other key staffers: Chief Operating Officer Robert Freescale and Chief Patent Officer David Luebke. In addition, earlier this week, it was announced that CMO Brian Wallace left his position in December of last year and will be coming back in an as-yet-undisclosed capacity.
According to sources, this is a major shakeup for the company. Magic Leap has raised nearly $1 billion across five funding rounds from investors like Google, but has yet to ship a product. In addition to the personnel changes, the company has cut back on hiring according to some insiders.
However, a source who is close to Magic Leap said that there’s been no reduction in hiring and denied that the executives have left at all . “I’ve been hearing this news for the last 1 week,” this source said.
In any case, Monos was instrumental in Magic Leap’s work on “Lightfield” 3D, which is the technology behind its current Leap prototype product, according to sources.
Last week, we got a rare look at a Magic Leap device that the company believed to be its upcoming super-secret “Lightwear” glasses system. While it wasn’t explicitly revealed that it was “Lightwear”, the company did use the term multiple times in its blog post, with the post reading: The Magic Leap One is a class-leading computing platform that blends physical computing, object and world detection, and hand interaction into an integrated experience. It is powered by our own custom-designed Lightwear spatial computing headset and by proprietary lenses capable of processing visual information in 3D. We are now testing the next generation of our technologies by sending them out into the world for people to use and react to.”
Monos is a robotics and artificial intelligence expert, having previously worked at Ford Motor Co and Honda. He is also an IEEE fellow. Monos’ LinkedIn profile states that he had been at Magic Leap since October 2014. The profile also says that he left “to pursue other opportunities.
Luebke, meanwhile, previously worked at Apple and came to Magic Leap in February of 2016. He is one of a handful of the company’s executives that was allowed the title of chief patent officer at the time that he joined. Luebke did not respond to an email asking for comment.
When asked about these departures, a spokesperson for Magic Leap told us: “We’re always working to evolve our culture and have made changes across our organization this year. We do not comment on rumors or speculation.” Consider reading How Google Memory Games can help strengthen your mind?
With Monos, Freescale, and Luebke all leaving the company, it remains to be seen what their follow-on roles will be. The company has been placing a heavy focus on developing practical virtual reality applications and is currently developing software for its product.
In addition to Monos, Freescale and Luebke, Magic Leap also lost senior executives Tim McGraw in 2015, Matthew Glotzbach in 2016 and Robin Murphy in 2017.
