Former Amazon hardware boss Dave Limp will take over as CEO of Blue Origin

Amazon’s former hardware boss Dave Limp will take on the role of CEO at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin after announcing his departure from Amazon, according to a report from CNBC. Internal documents obtained by the outlet reveal that Limp will replace outgoing Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith starting on December 4th.

In August, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that Limp is retiring from Amazon after an over 13-year career at the company. While at Amazon, he managed products like the company’s Echo smart speakers and its Alexa smart assistant. He also managed Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite internet project. Limp will reportedly be replaced at Amazon by Panos Panay, former head of Windows and Surface products who announced his own departure from Microsoft last week.

Now, Limp is changing gears. In a statement to The Verge, Blue Origin spokesperson Sara Blask confirmed that Limp will replace Smith. “Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset,” Blask says. “He has extensive experience in the high-tech industry and growing highly complex organizations, including leading Amazon’s Kuiper, Kindle, Alexa, Zoox, Fire TV, and many other businesses.”

Bezos echoes Blue Origin’s statement in a note to employees obtained by CNBC. “He is the right leader at the right time for Blue,” Bezos writes. “Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an outstanding sense of urgency, brings energy to everything, and helps teams move very fast.”

Smith will stay at Blue Origin until January 2nd to help with the CEO transition. The Verge reached out to Amazon with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Update September 25th, 6:01PM ET: Added a statement from Blue Origin.