Seattle — Former President Barack Obama spokesman Jay Carney has quit his best policy and public relations job at Amazon to join Airbnb.
Airbnb said in a blog post on Friday that Kearney will be the global policymaker.
Former Time magazine journalist Kearney joined Amazon in 2015 as the first senior vice president of global affairs, combining public relations and government lobbying as the company is increasingly scrutinized. Kearney violently protected the image of Amazon and his boss Jeff Bezos, one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Kearney’s resignation is one of several changes on Amazon over the year to Andy Jassy’s term, which took over Bezos as CEO last July. Jassy, who previously built and operated Amazon’s cloud computing business, is known for his attention to detail and has delved into some of the new companies under his control. ..
Amazon’s Logistics Expansion Architect, Dave Clark, announced last month that he would leave before a successor was appointed. Clark has been replaced by John Felton, an executive in the transportation sector, as CEO of Amazon’s retail and operations operations. Two of Felton’s associates, the company’s top black executives, have also left.
Jassy announced that Carney has resigned to the senior leadership team by email, on behalf of Amazon’s customers and employees who helped Carney build a powerful feature set of public policy and public relations. I praised him for his many important achievements. ”New York Times received an email.
“Everything about my time at Amazon exceeded my expectations,” Kearney said in an email to his team on Friday, which was also obtained by the Times. When contacted Thursday, Mr Kearney did not provide any comments.
Amazon is currently facing more regulatory threats from governments around the world than at any point in its history. The Federal Trade Commission, led by Amazon critic Lina Khan, is conducting an extensive investigation into whether company practices violate antitrust laws. Lawmakers may vote this year on a law that prevents Amazon from prioritizing its products, such as batteries and trash bags, over products sold by competitors in online marketplaces.
Amazon’s public relations specialists and lobbyists are promoting Amazon as a signatory employer, benefiting the local economy in which it operates. In 2018, the company announced a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour, praised by Senator Bernie Sanders, a frequent critic independent of Vermont.
However, Kearney’s team was dazzled when Amazon was looking for a second headquarters and underestimated the gradual backlash that Amazon would face in building a major presence in New York in 2018. Did. Amazon eventually reversed the course and chose another location.
Kearney’s team also faced criticism last year after an official Amazon Twitter account dismissed lawmakers’ concerns that workers had to urinate in bottles at work.Company apology..
Recently, Kearney’s team has begun to actively respond to antitrust laws. This makes it difficult for Amazon to offer signed fast delivery for prime subscription services, Amazon said. The company spent about $ 9.1 million on federal lobbying in 2015. Last year, I spent $ 19.3 million.
Drew Heldener, who heads public relations under Mr. Kearney, was promoted to senior vice president on Thursday, according to four people who know the internal announcement. The communications team has grown from 10 to “hundreds,” said Herdener. interview Last fall, Amazon added that it hired 200 communications professionals in the previous year alone.
According to the email, when the company seeks to be responsible for new global issues, Heldener reports directly to Jasie, and the policy team reports to legal adviser David Zaporsky.
After Bill Clinton’s former aide Chris Lehane set out for a cryptocurrency venture capital fund earlier this year, Airbnb was looking for a person responsible for its own policies and communications.
Erin Griffith Contribution report.
