DayStar Technologies (NSDQ: DSTI) has been struggling to generate sales, and also to keep its CEO.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is losing CEO, Michael Matvieshen, who was only appointed in Sept. 21 this year, according to the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DayStar revealed Matvieshen's resignation Tuesday along with the termination of a plan to buy Canada-based EPOD Solar, a developer of solar power plants in North America and Europe, as well as a manufacturer of amorphous-silicon solar panels.
Matvieshen was EPOD's CEO. DayStar announced the proposed purchase of EPOD last month, a deal that would cost about $300 million.
The latest announcement raises more questions about DayStar's ability to survive. The company is an early developer of copper-indium-gallium-selenide solar panels, but it has seen its losses widened this year, along with resignations of several managers and board members.
It was only back in May this year when DayStar said Stephan DeLuca had resigned as its CEO. It then appointed its chairman Robert Aldrich to be interim chief executive.
The company also saw the departure of Ratson Morad as its chief operating officer in July. He had joined the firm in February 2008.
One of DayStar's board members and a member of the compensation committee, Wen Tsai, resigned on Oct. 3, according to a SEC filing. Tsai was appointed to the board only weeks earlier.
The company's audit committee chairman, Randolph Graves, resigned effective on Sept. 27.
The company generated no revenue for the first six months of this year and posted a net loss of $14.3 million, compared with a net loss of $11.8 million in the same period a year ago.
DayStar recorded $1.3 million in cash and cash-equivalent assets as of June 30 this year, compared with $6.5 million as of March 31 and $17.1 million as of Dec. 31, 2008.
DayStar's board has appointed the company's chief financial officer, William Steckel, to become the CEO.
Although the company announced Steckel's appointment only yesterday, Steckel has been acting as the CEO since at least Oct. 7, when a SEC filing listed him as such.