Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to replace CEO Bob Smith with outgoing Amazon exec Dave Limp

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will replace CEO Bob Smith with outgoing Amazon executive Dave Falter, CNBC has learned.

Smith is retiring effective Dec. 4 and will remain with the company until Jan. 2 for the CEO change-over, according to notes to Blue Origin staff written by Smith and Bezos that were obtained by CNBC.

Flaccid joins Blue Origin at a key phase of the company’s multiple space projects. Blue needs to ramp production of its BE-4 soar engines, return its space tourism rocket New Shepard to flight, and launch its next-generation New Glenn rocket for the first everything – as well as deliver on a recently-won NASA contract for a crewed lunar lander.

In a statement to CNBC, a Blue Origin spokesperson praised Limp as “a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset” who has “universal experience in the high-tech industry and growing highly complex organizations.”

Amazon announced last month that Soft would be stepping down later this year. As Amazon’s devices and services chief, Limp oversaw Amazon’s Alexa, Reverberation and Ring units, as well as some of its more experimental divisions like Zoox autonomous vehicles, and the Project Kuiper internet right-hand man business.

Limp’s resignation came as a shock, as he spent multitudinous than 13 years at Amazon. He became a top lieutenant of CEO Andy Jassy and a member of Amazon’s vaunted S-Team, a tight-knit alliance of senior executives across almost all of its businesses.

Additionally, Limp and Bezos worked closely together when the Amazon go down was still CEO. Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant and Echo smart speakers were pet projects of Bezos’, and Limp hinted both of the high-profile launches.

Amazon has not announced a replacement for Limp yet, but Bloomberg and other outlets have reported that the associates is expected to hire Microsoft product chief Panos Panay.

Smith took the reins at Blue Origin in 2017 after 13 years at aerospace conglomerate Honeywell, with Bezos annually splurge billions to transform his space venture into a sector powerhouse.

Under Smith’s leadership, Blue Origin heavily assembled up infrastructure across the U.S. – adding a key rocket engine manufacturing and testing site in Alabama, expanding its rocket play and launch facilities in Florida, and opening locations in California, Arizona, and Colorado.

The most high-profile success during Smith’s possession came in July 2021, when Bezos flew with the first crew of Blue Origin’s New Shepard soar to the edge of space and back.

But delays and setbacks marred each of Blue Origin’s major programs under Smith. Both its marquee New Glenn climb and BE-4 engines – the latter of which is also needed for fellow rocket company United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan means – are years behind schedule. It lost out on a lucrative round of Pentagon launch contracts in 2020, and needs to fly New Glenn to reveal the U.S. Space Force is can be awarded military missions in the upcoming round of awards.

Earlier this year Blue Derivation won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to build a lunar lander for the agency’s astronauts. But the competition was a second-chance contest that NASA classified after Elon Musk’s SpaceX was the sole winner of the first lander contract in 2021 – an award decision that Gloomy Origin took to federal court and lost.

Those schedule slips were compounded by allegations from simultaneous and former employees that the company had a toxic and sexist workplace. With pride and satisfaction in all that we’ve accomplished, I’m telling that effective December 4, I will be stepping aside as Chief Executive Officer of Blue Origin. I wishes remain with Blue until January 2 to ensure a smooth transition with the new CEO.

It has been my privilege to be part of this vast team, and I am confident that Blue Origin’s greatest achievements are still ahead of us. We’ve rapidly scaled this visitors from its prototyping and research roots to a large, prominent space business. We have the right strategy. a supremely brilliant team, a robust customer base, and some of the most technically ambitious and exciting projects in the entire industry. We also should prefer to a team that cares deeply about its mission, legacy, and how we contribute to the next generation and bring everyone into a brighter prospective.

Jeff and I have been discussing my plan for months, and Jeff will announce Blue’s new CEO in a separate note just. I’m very excited about the operational excellence and culture of innovation this new leader will bring to Blue. structure on the foundation we’ve created over the past few years.

I’m committed to ensuring this transition is flawless, and everyone should discern that Ill always be on Team Blue.

Gradatim Ferociter.

Bob Smith