Velodyne founder David Hall, ousted as chairman, demands the SPAC's two directors resign

Velodyne Lidar makes laser sensors (lidar) used by autonomous vehicles and robotics.

Hall's majority voting power can overturn a SPAC-installed board and set a new strategy for the lidar maker, according to his letter.

David Hall founded Velodyne, a pioneer of laser sensors for self-driving cars. He stepped down as CEO in January 2020, replaced by Anand Gopalan, but stayed executive chairman as it merged with the SPAC Graf Industrial in June 2020.

In April 2021 the board ousted Hall as chair and removed his wife, Marta Thoma Hall, as chief marketing officer after the investigation; she remained a director and he resigned from the board on 2 March. On 25 May Hall issued a letter calling for the resignation of SPAC-appointed directors Michael Dee and Christopher Thomas, saying they were responsible for 'poor financial performance', and nominated Eric Singer of VIEX Capital Advisors.

Hall says the board lacked strategic focus and public-company governance experience

The company was set to miss its 2020 projections yet CEO pay was raised, per Hall

His voting power of roughly 52% gave him a way to remove directors despite no longer being chairman

The SPAC route avoided IPO scrutiny but left control and board composition open to dispute

A founder who keeps a majority of voting shares through a SPAC merger can still lose the board; control disputes surface when performance misses projections.

As of 25 May 2021 the dispute was unresolved: Velodyne had not commented, and the claims about the board and investigation are Hall's allegations. The Verge noted Ford had dissolved its stake earlier that month while still using Velodyne sensors on some vehicles.