Adding to the growing slate of executive departures under new CEO Andy Jassy is the loss of the person who invented the Kindle.
According to people familiar with the matter, Zehr told employees on August 11 that he would be leaving.
The invention of the Kindle was made by Zehr. Lab 126 is a secretive hardware group that created the Echo range of speakers. He worked at the hardware development unit for 18 years. The Astro robot was launched by him.
Taylor was part of the senior "S-team" executive group and previously worked on the payments and fulfillment sides.
They are the latest high-profile executives to leave the company. Insider's analysis of leadership changes shows that roughly 90 VPs or higher-level executives have left since Amazon announced Jeff Bezos would be replaced by Jassy as the company's CEO.
Some of them, like Taylor and Zehr, simply retired, while others have left to pursue other opportunities. It's rare for Amazon to lose so many long-time executives at the same time, as the company was known for retaining its most senior leaders for decades.
The departure of Zehr and Taylor leaves a hole in the leadership of the personal devices business. There have been internal gripes about the long-term growth potential of the devices recently, according to people familiar with the team. A number of projects have been shuttered by Amazon in the last few months.
The company has "remarkable retention and continuity of leadership" according to the email, which was sent to Insider. The devices organization is still a huge area of investment for Amazon and it is still strong with incredible traction in its adoption.
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