Amazon.com Inc. devices chief Dave Limp plans to retire — the latest senior leader to announce his departure from the e-commerce and cloud computing giant.
A longtime executive with the Seattle-based company, Limp oversees the unit that makes Echo smart speakers and the accompanying Alexa software, Fire-branded TV streaming sticks and tablets, among other gadgets. He’s a member of Amazon’s S-team, the senior group of leaders.
In a note to employees, also posted on Amazon’s corporate blog, Limp wrote that he’d been working in consumer electronics off and on for more than 30 years. “I love it, but I also want to look into the future through a different lens,” he said. “I am not sure what that future is right now, with the notable exception that it won’t be in the consumer electronics space.”
Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said the company would announce Limp’s successor “in the coming weeks.”
Limp is one of several Amazon executives who have departed since Jassy became CEO in July 2021. Other departures include retail and logistics chief Dave Clark and two of his deputies — who at the time were also Amazon’s top two Black executives — Alicia Boler Davis and Dave Bozeman. Jeff Blackburn, who oversaw Amazon’s media and entertainment businesses, retired in January.
The bench of executives in Limp’s division has also thinned in recent years. Gregg Zehr, president of Amazon’s Lab126 hardware skunkworks, and Tom Taylor, a senior executive on Alexa, retired last year. Toni Reid and Miriam Daniel, also previously top leaders in the Alexa and Echo business, are now both at Google.
Limp’s division was among those affected by an unprecedentedly large round of layoffs that affected 27,000 people.
“I remain excited and quite optimistic about the products and services we’re building in Devices and Services — we’re at the relative beginning of what’s possible and what I believe these businesses will add for customers and the company,” Jassy said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Limp’s pending departure earlier.
(Updated with company confirmation of Limp’s departure, comments from Limp and Jassy.)
