November 23, 2024
Amazon hardware chief Dave Limp is stepping down this year
Amazon's senior vice president of devices and services, David Limp, is planning to step down from his role after more than 13 years at the company.

David Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.com Inc., presents the Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker during an unveiling event at the company’s Spheres headquarters in Seattle, Sept. 20, 2018.

Andrew Burton | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services, David Limp, is planning to step down from his role after more than 13 years at the company, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Monday.

Limp is responsible for overseeing the development of the company’s consumer electronic devices such as the Kindle, Fire TV and Echo, as well as the Alexa voice assistant. Limp began working for Amazon in March 2010.

Limp regularly appeared at Amazon hardware events, which are typically held each fall but sometimes occur more than once a year, to announce new products. He is the latest in a string of Amazon executives that have departed since Andy Jassy took over as CEO about two years ago.

Amazon said Limp would remain in his role for the next few months and the company will announce his successor in the coming weeks. Amazon is set to unveil new products at its annual event Sept. 20, hosted at the company’s Northern Virginia headquarters, known as HQ2.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

In November of last year, Limp’s division was affected by Amazon’s decision to lay off approximately 10,000 employees. Jassy has been in cost-cutting mode to preserve cash as the company confronts slowing sales and a gloomy global economy.

In a memo to employees at the time, Limp wrote that the company was consolidating some teams and programs in its devices and services unit after “a deep set of reviews” of the business.

“One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required,” Limp said. “It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result.”

In January, Limp said Amazon remains “fully committed” to the Alexa unit despite the job cuts in the division.

Shares of Amazon were largely unchanged in extended trading Monday.

— CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.