Jun 06, 2022
Friday’s announcement that Dave Clark, Amazon.com’s CEO of Worldwide Consumer, would be resigning, effective July 1, set off speculation that the retail group’s recent trips-ups were to blame.
The 23-year Amazon veteran is credited with helping spearhead the company’s sprawling fulfillment and logistics infrastructure as its former head of logistics. In January 2021, he took over the consumer group — including online stores, physical stores, the third-party marketplace and Amazon Prime — from the retiring Jeff Wilke.
Mr. Clark led an unprecedented hiring spree and accelerated the spread of Amazon’s warehouses to meet surging pandemic demand. Online growth, however, recently slowed and Amazon in April reported its first quarterly loss since 2015 in part due to lower online sales. Overcapacity resulted in $6 billion in incremental costs in the first quarter with $4 billion expected for the second.
Beyond any excess warehouse and labor capacity, insiders and former Amazon executives told Business Insider that Mr. Clark’s exit was traced to unionization campaigns at warehouses, congressional scrutiny of the e-commerce business and frustrations by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy over retail’s profitability and Mr. Clark’s “ruthless” management style.
Mr. Clark, in an email to his team, said that for “some time” he had been discussing a transition with his family and confidants. He also indicated that he is ready for something new. He wrote on Twitter, “I’ve had an incredible time at Amazon but it’s time for me to build again. It’s what drives me.”
Mr. Jassy, who replaced Jeff Bezos last July, wrote in the press release, “The past few years have been among the most challenging and unpredictable we’ve faced in the history of Amazon’s Consumer business, and I’m particularly appreciative of Dave’s leadership during that time. As we shared last week during our annual shareholder meeting, we still have more work in front of us to get to where we ultimately want to be in our Consumer business. To that end, we’re trying to be thoughtful in our plans for Dave’s succession and any changes we make. I expect to be ready with an update for you over the next few weeks.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Is Dave Clark’s exit a harbinger of major changes for Amazon’s retail businesses? What type of experience and qualities should Amazon’s next retail leader have?
"Amazon isn’t a broken retail business, it just needs some tweaks and changes here and there which are probably best made under new management."
"Exit" - Google News
June 06, 2022 at 09:36PM
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What will Dave Clark's exit mean for Amazon's retail business? – RetailWire - RetailWire
"Exit" - Google News
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