The senior vice president and chief financial officer for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Tom Szkutak, announced plans to retire from the online retail giant in June 2015. He will be replaced by Brian Olsavsky, currently VP of finance for the company's global consumer unit.
Szkutak has been with Amazon for 12 years, joining the company in 2002 as CFO.
"Tom's impact over the past 12 years is evident in every part of our business," said CEO Jeff Bezos in a prepared statement. "Under Tom's stewardship, customers have benefitted from category expansion and geographical expansion, along with amazing new businesses like AWS and Kindle."
Olsavsky and Szkutak will work together to create a seamless transition ahead of Szkutak's retirement.
"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," said Szkutak.
Amazon has been battling to stay profitable over the past year even as costs, particularly for shipping, have increased. It's maintaining its commitment to developing original content for its Instant Video service, with Szkutak revealing during the company's second-quarter earnings call that Amazon plans to spend $100 million on original content during the third quarter.
For more:
- ABC News has this story
- see the press release
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