Amazon chief consumer officer resigns

Amazon’s executive in charge of the company’s global consumer business is stepping down after 23 years as the e-commerce giant grapples with its glut of warehouse space.

Dave Clark’s last day at the Seattle-based company will be July 1, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a company blog post on Friday. Amazon hasn’t named a replacement for Clark, but Jassy wrote that he expects to have “an update” in the coming weeks.

“As much as I loved the ride, it’s time for me to say goodbye to start a new journey,” Clark wrote in an email to his team that he posted on Twitter. “For some time I discussed my intention to leave Amazon with my family and others close to me, but I wanted to make sure the teams were in place to succeed. I am confident that now is the time. came.

Clark joined Amazon in 1999, just a day after graduating from an MBA program, Jassy said. As CEO of Amazon’s global consumer business, he oversees multiple units including Amazon’s online and physical stores, Amazon’s Third-Party Seller Marketplace and Prime Membership, most big money makers for the e-commerce juggernaut.

Clark took on the role in January 2021, helping oversee a massive expansion of Amazon’s logistics footprint as the company struggles to match its physical capacity to the large number of home consumer orders during the pandemic. Amazon has doubled the size of its operations and nearly doubled its workforce in the past two years. But as the worst of the pandemic subsided, he found himself with too many workers and too much space.

To deal with the problem, the company plans to sublet at least 10 million square feet of space and may end several of its leases in states including New York, New Jersey and California. In April, it announced its first quarterly loss since 2015, fueled by the slowdown in e-commerce and a massive write-down of its investment in electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive.

Jassy said Amazon still has work to do to get to where it wants to be in its consumer business.

“While change is never easy, I’m optimistic about the plan the Consumer team has crafted and I’m confident that if we stay focused on executing it, we’ll deliver the right customer experiences and business results. “, did he declare. .

Lynn A. Saleh