Haas F1 Team title sponsor Rich Energy has changed its name and dropped CEO Williams Storey following an ongoing saga between the two companies.
Rich Energy has changed its name to 'Lighting Volt' according to papers filed with the UK's Companies House, which also confirms that Storey, who founded the energy drinks company, has resigned.
This was confirmed by Story via social media, which the outgoing character uses as his primary communcation tool.
"William Storey founder of @rich_energy has sold his majority stake in the legal entity of Rich Energy limited. This decision was reluctantly reached due to the duplicitous conduct of minority stakeholders. To quote @Schwarzenegger he will be back!"
Storey had previously tweeted that he wouldn't step down, nor could he be forced out as the majority stakeholder.
It comes after Rich Energy attempted to terminate its sponsor deal with Haas, only for the company to release a statement explaining that a "rogue employee" had sent the tweet without permission from other shareholders.
Haas then sought to either remove Storey and continue its partnership with Rich Energy or sue for compensation totalling £35 million for unpaid fees and future payments due.
However it now appears that Rich Energy has managed to remove Storey from the position of CEO and will be known as Lighting Volt going forwards. This is also likely in reponse to legal action by Whyte Bikes, which had sued the company over copyright infringement after its logo was used on Rich Energy's drinks cans.
Zoran Terzic, a close friend of Storey, has also been removed from the company and Matthew Kell has been appointed CEO and director and documents say he now holds 75 per cent of the companies shares "directly or indirectly".
It's likely the company will now reband and could mean Haas will run with a new livery going forward.
H/T to @dan_pixelflow
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