Jeff Blackburn, whose 22-year management at Amazon culminated in a role of overseeing the company’s streaming efforts, ended his gap year and announced his departure from the company.
The news, which came through a memo posted on the company’s intranet whose content was first released by GeekWire, was not unexpected. The executive, who was a close aide to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, announced his one-year sabbatical plan in the summer of 2019. The license began in early 2020.
As senior vice president of corporate and business development, Blackburn directed Prime Video, Amazon Studios (which is now run by Jennifer Salke) and the company’s music, advertising and third-party businesses. In early 2020, former Hulu, Sony and Fox executive Mike Hopkins moved to Amazon in a senior role, handling much of what was in Blackburn’s hands and reporting directly to Bezos.
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In his memo to colleagues, Blackburn wrote, “I am not retiring and I will hear from you soon.” Bezos responded by noting that Blackburn “kept me up to date on his next chapter, and I can guarantee that it is a very exciting chapter!” He added: “I predict that Jeff will be just as amazing in his new role as he was in all of his roles at Amazon. Easy prediction. Congratulations to you, Jeff. “
Speculation about who would succeed Bezos as CEO had touched Blackburn and other senior executives, such as former retail chief Jeff Wilke, who ended up announcing his plan to leave the company next month. Another of Bezos’ longtime lieutenants has been assigned to the top job: Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy will take over Bezos’s reins this summer, with the founder remaining as executive chairman.
Although Blackburn’s dominance has grown to include multiple operations, a degree of uncertainty about the company’s streaming plans still looms over the company. It is undoubtedly a colossal force in the entertainment world. Its Fire TV streaming device system serving more than 50 million households and Prime Video making aggressive moves in the acquisition and launch of high profile projects. Already an NFL partner, Amazon is seen as a potential candidate to dispute the exclusive rights of Thursday night football ongoing negotiations on the long-term license league. The negotiations are expected to yield an agreement in the coming weeks.