Another of Jeff Bezos’ top lieutenants is leaving Amazon.
Jeff Blackburn, senior vice president of business development and an important member of Bezos’ inner circle, said on Tuesday that he is leaving the company. The news comes three weeks after Bezos announced he would step down as CEO and become executive chairman, leaving Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy to lead the e-commerce giant.
“I want to thank everyone for their friendship, teamwork and support,” wrote Blackburn, who was on a gap year, in a memo to employees. “What an incredible 22 years they have been together – I will keep them forever.”
Hinting at future projects, Blackburn added: “I am not going to retire and soon I will have news about what’s coming.”
Bezos said that Blackburn kept him “informed of his next chapter, and I can guarantee that it is a very exciting chapter!”
Blackburn joined Amazon in 1998, after helping the company go public a year earlier. He became a member of Team S de Bezos, the internal executive circle, in 2006.
Blackburn is the second high-profile executive to leave Amazon this year; Jeff Wilke, the head of Amazon’s consumer business, retired in January.
