When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
Just a week after being unseated from his position as the board’s chairman, Masimo’s founder has resigned from his position as CEO.
Joe Kiani, founder of the medtech company Masimo, the same one that sued and won in a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, has stepped down from his position as the CEO. Kiani’s departure comes a week after he was voted out of the company’s board of directors after months of proxy war due to the company’s falling revenue and share prices.
Masimo confirmed the update in a press note and an SEC filing and announced Michelle Brennan as the interim CEO while the company seeks a permanent replacement. Under new leadership, Masimo will perform a “strategic review” of its “value-creation initiatives” for its consumer-oriented business ventures, which include the recently acquired audio brand Sound United and the making of personal fitness bands.
Masimo has been looking to sell its consumer businesses for the past several months to undo its debt obligations of $876 million. In July this year, the company reported to have received an offer of up to $950 million from a potential joint venture partner for a significant stake in these arms. Notably, this is less than the $1 billion Masimo spent on acquiring Sound United in 2022.
Seen as the company’s expertise is in medical technology, the acquisition was viewed poorly, and resulted in share prices diving significantly. This led to activist investor firm Politan Capital, which owns roughly 9% of the company, to evoke a longstanding proxy fight with the CEO. The fight culminated last week when four new board members were brought in.
Masimo is one of the top makers of pulse oximeters, a medical gadget that is used to measure the concentration of oxygen in humans’ blood. With the spiking demand for medical devices to measure blood oxygen levels during COVID-19 (since falling blood oxygen levels are early identifiers of the infection), Masimo’s profits shot up significantly, and made Kiani a billionaire, according to Forbes.
The company has been in the headlines since last year for a lawsuit against Apple claiming the iPhone-maker infringed upon its patented technology used in the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensors. Although the lawsuit was originally filed in 2020, the court ruled in Masimo’s favor late in 2023 and levied a short-term ban around Christmas last year on the sale of Apple Watch in the US until Apple agreed to drop the tech. The newly launched Apple Watch Series 10 as well as older Series 9 and Ultra models sold starting January 2024 come with the blood oxygen sensor disabled.
Though Masimo has previously said it was open to license its tech to Apple, the latter seemed unconvinced. Kiani’s departure could reshape the result of the lawsuit and the company may settle its dispute with Apple outside the court as it looks to recover from losses.
