Two of the most disruptive businesses driving today’s “sharing economy” have poached high-profile execs from Amazon within a week’s span. Uber has hired Amazon voice shopping VP Assaf Ronen as Senior VP and Head of Product, two days after Airbnb named Amazon Prime head Greg Greeley as its new President of Airbnb Homes.
Voice shopping and Prime are two of Amazon’s most hyped offerings, so seeing the heads of each of these departments go within a few days of each other is interesting timing. If anything, it shows exactly how valuable these high-level executives are — that even those companies with the highest reputations for innovation are eager to get their share of the Amazon “magic”.
During Greeley’s 18 years at Amazon, he helped create Amazon Prime and launch Prime Day. Prior to that he built out the e-Commerce giant’s European business. Greeley previously received an offer from Airbnb rival Bookings.com to become the company’s next CEO, but he declined.
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Airbnb picked Greeley to lead its homes segment — its core business of four that also include trips, luxury and China. With Airbnb continuing its growth, Greeley’s global experience appeared to be a big factor in his hiring. Greeley will officially join Airbnb on March 18.
Ronen had spent more than three years at Amazon. Before that, he spent nearly seven years as GM at Microsoft, running consumer and enterprise products including Skype.
Ronen is set to replace Uber Head of Product Daniel Graf, who will remain on board as an advisor. In a memo to staff, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted that the ridesharing company is “going to lean in on product this year.”
