Reading Between the Lines of Amazon’s Big Shakeup

We learned a few things from an Amazon executive reshuffling Tuesday, which was set in motion by the recent departure of Dave Clark, the company’s former CEO for worldwide consumer. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy promoted Doug Herrington to be the chief of what the company is now calling Worldwide Amazon Stores, and consolidated all of its operations organization under a single leader, John Felton, who will now report to Herrington. The elevation of two longtime executives—both of whom were on our earlier list of possible Clark replacements—is Jassy’s acknowledgement that Amazon is simply too complex an organizational beast for an outside candidate to tame.

But it’s also a sign that Jassy doesn’t plan to hold existing Amazon leaders accountable for the mess it’s in. Amazon is currently coping with the damage resulting from a foul-up in its internal forecasts for how much staffing and warehouse capacity it would need. You could argue that the goof—which cost Amazon $4 billion last quarter—demanded leaders with a fresh set of eyes. Instead, Jassy is sticking with deputies who won’t need on-the-job training.