Internal memo: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on senior exec departures and diversity

Amazon CEO on senior exec departures and ‘s-team’ diversity: Andy Jassy addressed the news that the company is losing two of its most senior Black executives, including the only Black executive among its senior leadership group, in a message to senior leaders Tuesday night. Read the memo. 

News from re:MARS conference: GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop is on the ground in Las Vegas for Amazon’s annual robotics conference, where the company is showing off its new warehouse robots and providing updates on Zoox, the robotaxi company Amazon acquired for more than $1 billion in 2020.

Athira Pharma stock plummets: A clinical trial testing the Seattle company’s candidate drug for Alzheimer’s disease failed to meet its primary endpoint.

Fundings:

• Zap Energy charges up with $160M: The company backed by energy giants and Bill Gates is edging closer to the promise of fusion power.  

• Laser printer maker lands $43M: Seattle startup Glowforge racked up more than $100 million in sales last year. We interviewed CEO Dan Shapiro about raising in turbulent economic times. Read more. 

Tech Moves: Longtime Zillow VP departs; AWS VP jumps to Google; UiPath exec joins new VC firm — and more personnel changes. 

Seattle’s payroll tax is legal: That’s what a Washington state appellate court confirmed this week, assuring that the tax on big business — which brought in $248.1 million in revenue in 2021 — will stay put. Read more.