Tom Szkutak, Amazon’s chief financial officer for the past 12 years, will retire from the company next summer, the company announced this morning.
He will be replaced by Brian Olsavsky, currently vice president of finance for the company’s global consumer business, who will work with Szkutak to transition into the position over the next 10 months.
As the highest-ranking executive on the company’s earnings conference calls, Szkutak has frequently been the person explaining and defending Amazon’s notoriously thin or non-existent profit margins, and its long-term approach to building market share. That role will now shift to Olsavsky, who has been with the company even longer than Szkutak, having joined as vice president of finance in April 2002.
Szkutak said in a statement, “I’ve worked very closely with Brian Olsavsky over the past 12 years and have seen firsthand how talented he is, and I have confidence that he will be a great CFO for Amazon.com.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement, “Tom’s impact over the past 12 years is evident in every part of our business. Under Tom’s stewardship, customers have benefitted from category expansion and geographical expansion, along with amazing new businesses like AWS and Kindle. The day Tom joined the company was a very lucky one for Amazon’s shareowners and customers and for all of us who’ve had the pleasure and fun of getting to work with him. We wish Tom and his family all the best in their next round of adventures.”
