Amazon.com Inc. share price down, names Brian Olsavsky to succeed CFO Szkutak

The biggest online retailer in the world – Amazon.com Inc. revealed in an official statement that its Chief Financial Officer Mr. Thomas Szkutak is retiring in June 2015. Mr. Brian Olsavsky, currently vice president of finance for the companys global consumer business is to succeed Mr. Szkutak.

Amazon said in its statement that was cited by Reuters: “Szkutak and Olsavsky will work together to conduct a seamless transition of CFO responsibilities over the next 10 months.”

Amazons Chief Executive Officer Mr. Jeff Bezos said for the Wall Street Journal that “customers have benefitted from category expansion and geographical expansion” over the tenure of Mr. Szkutak.

Thomas Szkutak took the position of Chief Financial Officer at Amazon in October 2002 after spending more than two decades as CFO of General Electric Co.s Lighting unit. Mr Olsavsky has also been working with Amazon since 2002 and will become responsible for managing expenses after the retirement of Mr. Szkutak.

“The key thing with Tom and his successor is managing to strike that balance between investment and profitability, which has been weighing on investors’ minds,” RJ Hottovy, an analyst at Morningstar Inc., said for Bloomberg. “The next CFO will have to make clear that they are weighing that balance.”

The current Chief Financial Officer will leave the company at a time when more and more of Amazons shareholders are putting the management team under pressure because of sparse profits and increasing expenditures. In addition, the company has recently been dealing with Alibaba Group Holding Ltds intensifying rivalry, which currently handles more e-commerce than Amazon and eBay Inc. combined in China and has been planning to schedule its Initial Public Offering this month.

Amazon.com Inc. fell 0.99% on Wednesday to close at $339.00 per share, marking a one-year change of +17.38%. The company is valued at $158.19 billion. According to CNN Money, the 36 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Amazon.com Inc. have a median target of $392.50, with a high estimate of $460.00 and a low estimate of $325.00. The median estimate represents a +15.78% increase from the previous close of $339.00.