NEW YORK (AP) — Jay Carney, senior policy and communications officer at Amazon and a former White House spokesman, has been named chief policy officer at Airbnb, marking another high-profile departure for Amazon as it faces a changing consumer landscape and increased regulatory scrutiny.
Carney, who served as President Barack Obama’s press secretary, will join Airbnb’s leadership team and work with co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, the San Francisco-based home-sharing company said in a news article. blog Friday.
“Jay has worked at the highest levels of government and technology, as a strategic advisor to the President, and at one of the largest technology companies in the world,” Chesky said in the post.
Carney will join Airbnb in September in Washington, D.C.
In an email to the company’s leadership team on Friday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy thanked Carney for “many significant accomplishments,” including helping the company “build a strong set of public policy and public relations capabilities”.
Seattle-based Amazon has had a series of departures since Jassy, who previously led the company’s AWS cloud computing unit, took over from founder Jeff Bezos as CEO last summer. At least half of Jassy’s tenure has been marred by warehouse glut headaches the business acquired during the pandemic. He is committed to bringing the company back to profitability and is said to have a more hands-on approach to the role.
This month, Dave Clark, the general manager of Amazon’s consumer business who oversaw a massive expansion of Amazon’s logistics footprint, left the company after 23 years.. Clark, who will join logistics startup Flexport in September, was replaced by Doug Herrington, another executive who helped launch Amazon Fresh in 2017. Two of the company’s most senior black executives, Alicia Boler Davis and David Bozeman, are also left last month.leaving Amazon’s elite leadership group, or “S-team,” without any black members.
Carney started with Amazon seven years ago and led the company’s global corporate affairs organization, reporting directly to the CEO. He served as White House press secretary from 2011 to 2014 after serving as Vice President Joe Biden’s communications director. At Amazon, he oversaw policy and public relations, focusing on the company’s dealings with lawmakers and the White House. In the role, he adopted a more combative stance, occasionally clashing with members of the media and lawmakers critical of the company.
“Everything about my time at Amazon has exceeded my expectations, and I will be forever grateful to my colleagues at GCA, on Steam, and across the board for their guidance, support, and friendship over the years,” wrote Carney to his team on Friday in an email obtained by The Associated Press.
His departure comes amid increasing scrutiny of Amazon by Washington. Federal Trade Commission antitrust regulators have been investigating Amazon’s business practices. The agency reviewed Amazon’s recent $8.5 billion takeover of Hollywood studio MGM and retains discretion to challenge it.
On Thursday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who leads the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Panel, urged the FTC to investigate Amazon’s recently announced $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical.raising concerns about the retail giant’s past conduct and the deal’s potential implications for consumer health data.
The Amazon e-commerce empire is estimated to control 50-70% of sales in the online marketplace. Some independent merchants who sell products on Amazon.com have complained about the company’s practices, such as contractual provisions that supposedly prevent sellers from offering their products at lower prices or better terms on any other platform. online, including their own websites.
In its defense, Amazon said sellers set their own prices for the products they offer on its platform.
Landmark legislative proposals pending in Congress have raised the question of a possible forced spinoff of Amazon’s private label products that compete with the platform’s vendors. The legislation authorized key committees in both houses of Congress, but languished for months as prospects for votes by the entire Senate or House dimmed. For its part, Amazon has postponed the invoice.
Jassy said in the email to company management that the search for Carney’s replacement would begin immediately.
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Associated Press Business reporter Marcy Gordon contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
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