Man, 35, who made £150m from company he started, has been fired
The man who started a company with the goal of saving lives and helping people get on to a plane has been sacked by the company he co-founded.
The Daily Mail reports that 45-year-old Paul Lewis is a former head of sales at BAE Systems, where he helped sell a number of UK-made military aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornets, F-16 Fighting Falcons, and A-10 Warthogs.
He joined BAE as sales director in 2006.
The company also developed a number on-the-ground logistics solutions, including a drone-based fleet that helps with the transport of cargo and medical supplies.
He was also involved in a number other aspects of the company, including the construction of a new warehouse in the UK.
Lewis had been with the company for just under two years, the Daily Mail reported.
It’s unclear what happened to him after he was dismissed, but it is understood that he was transferred to a new role with another company.
Lewis told the paper he was fired because he was “not up to the job”.
He told the newspaper that he wanted to be a full-time sales associate and said he was frustrated with his lack of experience and expertise.
The job description at Baedskills does not mention any type of experience, but he did have a previous experience with working on drones.
BAE also told Business Insider that the company did not have a policy for termination of senior executives.
Lewis was a member of the British Army and had served in Afghanistan and Iraq, but was discharged from the Army in 2009 for health reasons.
Baedksills was founded in 2003 by Lewis and two other BAE employees, John and Robert MacLean.
It now has more than 20 employees worldwide.
Beadle, who worked at Beadles until 2016, is currently working as a consultant to the firm.
Bae Systems is also part of the US-based company Lockheed Martin.
In a statement to Business Insider, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said that it “does not comment on personnel matters”.
“The actions of our employees have been evaluated by the appropriate authorities,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson did not provide further information about Lewis’s departure.
Lewis is the latest high-profile casualty of a global shakeup in the aerospace industry.
In November, General Atomics was taken private by private equity firm TPG and merged with United Launch Alliance.
Earlier this month, Airbus announced it would be cutting its workforce by nearly half and closing some of its US manufacturing plants.
Baidu, China’s largest search engine company, is also in the process of selling its US-listed US-owned company to US firm Vulcan Aerospace for an undisclosed sum.