Amazon's devices chief confirms he is stepping down after almost 14 yrs

SAN FRANCISCO: Dave Limp, head of Amazon devices and services who has been with the company for nearly 14 years has confirmed he is stepping down, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced on Tuesday.

Jassy said that after almost 14 years with Amazon and countless contributions to the company, Limp has decided to retire from the company.

“Under Limp's leadership, Amazon has become one of the world’s leading innovators in building devices and underlying services that customers love. From Kindle readers to Fire TV to Alexa and Echo, over the past decade and a half we’ve been able to invent and keep improving experiences that help make our customers’ lives better every day,” said the Amazon chief.

Limp will remain in his role for the next few months, and the company will announce his successor in the coming weeks.

His departure comes Amod reports that Amazon’s costly bet on smart home devices has not paid off well.

Amazon has also slashed nearly 27,000 roles as cost cutting measures amid the economic downturn.

Limp said in a blog post that he has made the tough decision after almost 14 years to leave Amazon in a few months.

“The obvious question is why? It might be easier to explain why not. It’s not because of our team, this team is SO good and some of you I have worked with for decades. You’re all masters of your craft,” Limp said.

“It’s not because I am done with Amazon. It's time. I have been doing a version of this job (building and shipping consumer electronics) on and off for 30+ years. I love it, but I also want look into the future through a different lens,” Limp added.

Limp is not sure what that future is right now, “with the notable exception that it won’t be in the consumer electronics space”.