This Top Executive with Amazon is Taking a Leave from the Company

Jeff Blackburn, one of the top executives at e-commerce giant Amazon, is taking a 1-year leave from the company.

Wall Street learned the news about Amazon’s head of entertainment and advertising leaving until 2021 on Wednesday. An Amazon representative confirmed the news via e-mail to CNBC.

Blackburn is the SVP of business and corporate development at Amazon and joined the company back in 1998. He is a close advisor to CEO Jeff Bezos and is one of the longest running executives at Amazon as he is a part of the company’s S-Team, the inner circle of the most senior executives at the company.

The Amazon spokesperson wrote, “Jeff Blackburn has decided to take a one year sabbatical with his wife and extended family following more than 21 years at Amazon, leading everything from our third party business, to Prime Video, Amazon Studios, Amazon Music, and Amazon Advertising. Jeff’s sabbatical will begin in early 2020, and we look forward to welcoming him back in 2021.”

“’I’ve been pretty nonstop at Amazon for 21+ years now—from the time we were only selling books. Physical books!” Mr. Blackburn said in an email. He also said, “It’s never easy to find a good time for a break when always scaling so fast, but now feels like the right time for me and my family.”

Blackburn has 71,000 Amazon shares that are worth around $132.5 million.

Disclaimer: We have no position Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and have not been compensated for this article.