U.S. Seeks to Oust Ukrainian Owner of Texas Rocket Startup Firefly
Max Polyakov has agreed to sell a stake in the company under pressure from U.S. officials.
The U.S. government has requested that Max Polyakov, a wealthy Ukrainian tech entrepreneur, sell his stake in the rocket company Firefly Aerospace Inc., citing national security concerns.
Firefly, a private rocket maker based near Austin, Texas, has been backed for several years by Polyakov, who built a software empire in Ukraine. Government and aerospace industry officials have expressed objections to Polyakov’s control of the company amid fears that valuable technology could make its way to Ukraine, Russia or other nations trying to develop rocket programs. Despite putting more than $200 million of his fortune into Firefly, Polyakov agreed to step down from the company’s board and Firefly’s day-to-day activities in late 2020 to help make it easier for the company to win U.S. government and military contracts and ease some of the underlying tensions.