(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc Senior Vice President Jeff Blackburn is leaving the company on Tuesday after 22 years, he said in an internal note that the online retailer shared with Reuters.
Blackburn, who had overseen mergers and acquisitions, Amazon’s growing advertising business and its television studio, had been on sabbatical in 2020.
His departure further paves the way for incoming Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to reshape the company’s executive ranks when he succeeds founder and current chief Jeff Bezos this summer.
Blackburn, who joined the company after drafting part of its initial public offering prospectus at Deutsche Bank, said in his departure note that he is not retiring, but declined to share his next move.
Bezos said Blackburn had apprised him of what’s in store and that it was “very exciting,” according to messages posted on Amazon’s intranet and shared with Reuters.
Amazon Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke left the world’s largest online retailer earlier this year as well.
Blackburn joked in his note that Amazon would finally overcome its problem of being run by so many people named “Jeff.”
“The ‘too many Jeff’s’ bug that’s been bothering many of you for two decades has been fixed!” he said.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
