Meet Doug Herrington, Amazon's new retail CEO
It's Friday, folks. Jordan Parker Erb here, reporting to you from New York.
This week, insiders gave us a glimpse into the leadership style of Amazon's mild-mannered, Allbirds-wearing new retail boss, Doug Herrington.
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1. Meet Doug Herrington, Amazon's new retail CEO. After Dave Clark resigned last month, Herrington was promoted to the company's most senior retail executive job — catapulting the soft-spoken 17-year company veteran into the spotlight.
- A fan of no-show socks, Warby Parker glasses, and Allbirds shoes, Herrington fits the classic Amazon executive look, and can often be found toting around a bag of Cheez-Its.
- People familiar with Herrington told Insider he's known as a gentle, mild-mannered leader with a lot of creative ideas, but that many of his initiatives (like the now-dead Dash Button) have failed to gain much traction.
- Herrington's rise may be evidence that his leadership style — essentially the opposite of his predecessor, the operation-minded Clark — is what CEO Andy Jassy thinks the company needs.
In other news:
2. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani has been convicted on 12 fraud-related charges. Balwani, Elizabeth Holmes' ex-boyfriend and former Theranos business partner, had been charged with 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Insider columnist Adam Lashinsky breaks down why the verdict was downright resounding for Balwani.
3. A Facebook Marketplace scam is tricking sellers into sending money. Scammers have been using fake Zelle emails to trick people on the platform, and some sellers have lost hundreds of dollars to the scheme. Here's what to look out for.
4. Elon Musk's $44 billion deal to buy Twitter is in peril, according to The Washington Post. Three sources told the paper that Musk's team has "stopped engaging in certain discussions around funding" for the deal. Meanwhile, Twitter says it's removing more than 1 million spam accounts each day. As the takeover drama continues, the social media company has also laid off a third of its recruiting team.
5. A cryptocurrency investor shares the perks of her 20 metaverse properties. The former day trader sold one of her properties for $30,000, but the rest are getting her perks — like passive income and citizenship on a real-life island. These are all the benefits she gets.
6. Elon Musk says he's doing his best to help the "underpopulation crisis." After Insider reported he had twins last fall, the Tesla exec tweeted that "a collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far." See his full tweet.
7. Layoffs are hitting the creator economy. Since May, eight startups — including Cameo, Substack, and MasterClass — have laid off employees. See five more startups that have sacked employees in the past few months.
8. A barely-used Hummer EV was sold for nearly three times its suggested price. As GMC struggles to fulfill over 77,500 reservations for the new electric car, someone sold theirs for $324,500 in a Las Vegas auction. Why people are clamoring for the electric Hummer.
Odds and ends:
9. We ranked the 15 longest-range electric cars on sale in 2022. We tested EVs from Kia, Tesla, Ford, and more by their range, as estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency. While the Lucid Air is the longest-range electric car, these three also made the cut.
10. Elon Musk's Boring Company will now accept payment in Dogecoin. People taking an underground Tesla ride in Las Vegas can now pay for it using cryptocurrency. Here's the latest.
The latest people moves in tech:
- SoftBank exec Rajeev Misra will step back from his role heading its Vision Fund 2 to create his own $6 billion external fund.
- Microsoft Corp. cloud VP Tom Keane announced he'd be leaving the company after 21 years. His departure comes after Insider reported on allegations made against him of verbal abuse.
- GameStop's CFO is leaving the company, CNBC reported.
- According to the Hollywood Reporter, Snap just hired James Murray, the outgoing director of the U.S. Secret Service, as its chief security officer.
Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.