Amazon announces new board member, $5B stock buyback, and an exec taking a two-year leave

Amazon's board just approved a $5 billion stock buyback program and appointed a new member, Corning CEO William Weeks, according to a new filing.

The $5 billion stock repurchase authorization replaces the previous $2 billion stock repurchase authorization, approved by the Board of Directors in 2010.

The company's stock was up about 2% on the news.

Amazon also announced that long-time employee Diego Piacentini will be taking a two-year leave of absense. He had been the SVP of Amazon's international consumer business, and starting in teh summer of 2016 he will spend two years working pro bono as the head o fthe Italian Prime Minister's digital technology office.

"After 16 years at Amazon, it's a way for me to give back to the country in which I was born and lived for 40 years of my life," he said in a statement.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.