Dave Clark, one of e-commerce giant Amazon’s most long-standing executives and the company’s CEO of worldwide consumer business, has announced his resignation which will become effective from July 1st. The announcement was made via an internal regulatory filing last Friday.
Through an internal email to his team, which he later publicised via his Twitter profile, Clark expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to work with some of the “best people anywhere in the world”, adding that he wanted to make this move for while now, yet had to ensure that the company would be in a position to continue being successful after his departure.
“It has been my privilege to work with some of the best people anywhere in the world over the past 23 years,” said Clark. “The quality of the people at Amazon has truly been our secret sauce. Success is rarely achieved alone and this was absolutely true for me at Amazon. The successes we enjoyed together over the years were a direct result of Amazonians coming together from across the company to deliver the best experience possible to our customers.
“For some time, I have discussed my intent to transition out of Amazon with my family and others close to me, but I wanted to ensure the teams were set up for success. I feel confident that time is now. We have a great leadership team across the Consumer business that is ready to take on more as the company evolves past the customer experience challenges we took on during the COVID-19 pandemic,” added the Amazon executive.
I’ve had an incredible time at Amazon but it’s time for me to build again. It’s what drives me. To all I’ve had the honor of working with: thank you for making it so much fun to come to work every day for 23 years to invent cool, amazing things for customers.
Email to team below pic.twitter.com/c8Ao46VvaJ
— Dave Clark (@davehclark) June 3, 2022
Clark is one of two chief executives who report to Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, and transitioned to his role just last year, after the departure of Jeff Wilke, another long-standing employee of the company who had been in the role since 2016. In a blog post regarding Clark’s departure, the tech giant stressed that they have yet to find his replacement, adding that they are in the process of creating a “succession plan” and will be posting an update soon.
The news of Clark’s resignation -who was one of Amazon’s most highest paid executives, receiving a compensation pay of over $77 million last year alone- comes as the company struggles with its first quarterly loss in seven years and internal unionisation issues. This news could mean that Amazon will be going through an organisational shift as Jassy attempts to bring greater balance to the company under difficult conditions.
Clark began his career at Amazon back in 1999 and worked for the US tech giant in multiple roles, including senior vice president of worldwide operations, vice president of worldwide operations, vice president of global customer fulfilment and vice president of North America operations.
