Former Amazon hardware chief Dave Limp will take over as CEO of Blue Origin from Jeff Bezos after announcing his departure from Amazon. according to a CNBC report. Internal documents obtained by the outlet reveal that Limp will replace outgoing Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith effective December 4.
In August, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that Limp will retire from Amazon after a more than 13-year career with the company. While at Amazon, he managed products such as the company’s Echo Smart speakers and its Alexa smart assistant. He also led Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite Internet project. Limp will reportedly be replaced at Amazon by Panos Panay, former director of Windows and Surface products, who announced his departure from Microsoft last week.
Now Limp is shifting gears. In a statement to The edge, Blue Origin spokesperson Sara Blask confirmed that Limp will replace Smith. “Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mentality,” says Blask. “He has extensive experience in the high-tech industry and growing highly complex organizations, including Kuiper, Kindle, Alexa, Zoox, Fire TV and many other Amazon companies.”
Bezos echoes Blue Origin’s statement in a memo to employees obtained by CNBC. “He is the right leader at the right time for Blue,” Bezos writes. “Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an extraordinary sense of urgency, brings energy to everything and helps teams move very quickly.”
Smith will remain at Blue Origin until January 2 to assist with the CEO transition. The edge He contacted Amazon for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Update September 25 at 6:01 pm ET: Added a statement from Blue Origin.
