Amazon’s consumer chief Dave Clark is departing the company

Dave Clark, who headed Amazon’s worldwide consumer operations, announced he is resigning after 23 years at the company. The former Kentucky warehouse manager was in charge of overseeing the company’s retail business as well as its warehouse and shipping operations, which expanded due to the pandemic. Clark tweeted the announcement today along with an email sent to his team, writing that he had discussed “transitioning out of Amazon” for some time with family and those close to him. Clark was promoted to his current role only last year, following the departure of longer-serving executive Jeff Wilke.

I've had an incredible time at Amazon but it’s time for me to build again. It's what drives me. To all I've had the honor of working with: thank you for making it so much fun to come to work every day for 23 years to invent cool, amazing things for customers.

Email to team below pic.twitter.com/c8Ao46VvaJ

— Dave Clark (@davehclark) June 3, 2022

Clark’s resignation comes as the company is dealing with its first quarterly loss in seven years, a unionization push and more warehouse space than it needs. Clark was in charge of the company’s logistic operations, which he expanded as demand soared during the pandemic. The company reported in April that excess warehouse space would contribute to $10 billion in excess costs for the first half of 2022.

The executive regularly defended Amazon’s warehouse operations, even amid criticism of its unsafe working conditions. After John Oliver investigated Amazon warehouses in an episode of Last Week Tonight, Clark tweeted that Oliver was “wrong on Amazon” and that the company was “proud of the safe, quality work environment” of its facilities.

Clark’s resignation will be effective in July, according to a regulatory filing by Amazon. So far a successor has not been named.