Senior Amazon executive announces one year break

San Francisco, Aug 1 (IANS) Choosing a one-year sabbatical from work life, Amazon's Senior Vice President Jeff Blackburn has decided to take some time off in 2020.Blackburn, who had joined Amazon in 1998, informed the staff about his decision via an email on Wednesday. "It's never easy to find a good time for a break when always scaling so fast, but now feels like the right time for me and my family," news portal Variety quoted the Amazon executive as saying in the email. During his 21 years of association with the e-commerce giant, Blackburn has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from the company's third-party marketplace to business development and advertising. Over the last seven years, he focused on Amazon's growing media business, including Prime Video, Amazon Studios and Amazon Music, the report said. Blackburn is considered as one of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' closest advisors. According to media reports, Blackburn owns 71,000 Amazon shares, which are worth about $132 million.After his sabbatical, Blackburn would return to the company. "Jeff's sabbatical will begin in early 2020, and we look forward to welcoming him back in 2021," the report quoted an Amazon spokesperson as saying.
--IANS rp/mag/