Nov 28, 2018

Amazon has become Silicon Valley's CFO factory

Amazon's regional headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Amazon is quickly emerging as the go-to source for Silicon Valley tech startup chief financial officers amidst a shortage of experienced candidates.

The big picture: In many ways, Amazon is the perfect breeding ground for future C-suite execs of pre-IPO tech companies. It provides them with big public company experience and a good deal of autonomy as finance chiefs of large divisions, but not so much autonomy that they don't aspire to run their own shops.

Just this month alone, three Amazon finance execs left for startup CFO roles:

Last year, Jason Child left to become CFO at Opendoor.

Ex-Amazon senior employees have also taken up other top jobs at tech companies, such as Greg Greeley joining Airbnb as its president of home-sharing, Sebastian Gunningham as WeWork's vice chairman, Assaf Ronen as SoFi's head of product, and Len Eschweiler as The RealReal's chief revenue officer.

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Netanyahu says July 1 deadline for West Bank annexation won't change

Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday at a Likud Party faction meeting at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, that his July 1 deadline for starting the process of annexation in the West Bank will not change, according to people in attendance.

Why it matters: The White House and the State Department have stressed over the last few weeks that the deadline set by Netanyahu is "not sacred" to the Trump administration — and that any discussion of annexation needs to be in the context of renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow2 hours ago - World

Trump threatens to move Republican convention from North Carolina if capacity reduced

President Trump on stage during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Ohio. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images

President Trump threatened in a series of Monday tweets to move this summer's Republican National Convention from Charlotte if North Carolina's Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, doesn't allow the event to be held at full capacity.

The state of play: Mandy Cohen, the state's health and human services secretary, said last week that the GOP should "plan for the worst" as mass gatherings will be a "very big challenge" if the number of coronavirus cases in the state continues to increase, per NPR.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

The wreckage of summer

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

We usually think of Memorial Day as the start of the summer, with all of the fun and relaxation that goes with it — but this one is just going to remind us of all of the plans that have been ruined by the coronavirus.

Why it matters: If you thought it was stressful to be locked down during the spring, just wait until everyone realizes that all the traditional summer activities we've been looking forward to are largely off-limits this year.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow5 hours ago - Economy & Business