Amazon Executive Who Oversaw Entertainment Push Exits Company

“Over the past year-and-a-half, he’s helped set us up for continued success in media and entertainment,” Mr. Jassy said of Mr. Blackburn’s brief second stint with the company.

Amazon Senior Vice President

Mike Hopkins

will continue in his role as day-to-day head of Amazon Prime and its television and movie studios. Mr. Hopkins now reports directly to Mr. Jassy.

In a memo to staff announcing his departure, Mr. Blackburn said he wanted to spend the next year with family and called the past 18 months—a period in which Amazon acquired the MGM movie and television studio and landed the rights to the National Football League’s “Thursday Night Football” franchise—“a thrill.”

Mr. Blackburn spent more than 25 years with Amazon, holding many senior positions and working closely with Amazon founder and Executive Chairman

Jeff Bezos.

In his latest role, Mr. Blackburn also was responsible for Amazon Music, Wondery, Audible, Twitch and Amazon Games. Steve Boom, who is in charge of Amazon’s music and podcasting teams, will add that component of Mr. Blackburn’s job and also report to Mr. Jassy.

Amazon is currently in one of the most challenging periods in the company’s history. Its stock is down 44.6% year-to-date, and Amazon recently began the largest round of layoffs since its founding. The company could shed as many as 10,000 jobs as part of the layoffs, The Wall Street Journal has reported. In light of this, Mr. Jassy and his team have been conducting a company-wide profitability review in order to cut costs and boost profitability, the Journal has reported.

Amazon has been moving further into the content arena as a means to keep consumers on its platform. Besides adding more sports such as “Thursday Night Football,” it is spending heavily on scripted shows, including its very expensive “Lord of the Rings” series.

Mr. Blackburn marks the latest high-profile defection from Amazon’s vaunted “S-Team,” or team of senior leaders put in place under Mr. Bezos when he was CEO. The S-Team now works under Mr. Jassy.

In July,

Dave Clark,

Amazon’s CEO of Worldwide Consumer, left the company. The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Clark, a 23-year veteran of Amazon, was tired of Mr. Jassy’s day-to-day, hands-on style of managing.

Alicia Boler Davis,

Amazon’s senior vice president of global customer fulfillment and a member of the company’s S-Team, resigned in June. Tom Taylor, a senior vice president of Amazon’s Alexa division, also recently departed the company. Jay Carney, who was Amazon’s lead public relations and public policy official and also was on the S-Team, announced his resignation in July.