Amazon Hires Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney For Key PR And Public Policy Role

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) confirmed Thursday that it has hired Jay Carney as its new Senior Vice President for Worldwide Corporate Affairs, Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/jay-carney-amazon-job-115530.html) reports. Carney previously served as the 29th White House Press Secretary under President Barack Obama for more than three years, before resigning in the first half of last year.Carney's new role will combine public relations with public policy, both areas of his expertise. The former White House Press Secretary will start working next Monday in the Worldwide Corporate Affairs, a freshly created department in the company, stepping down from his current job as a senior political analyst on CNN.Paul Misener and Craig Berman, who currently lead the company's preexisting public policy and public relations teams –respectively- will now respond directly to Carney, who, in turn, will report to CEO Jeff Bezos.Some say Amazon was not the first big company to offer Carney a job. In July 2014, Business Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/jay-carney-could-be-apples-next-pr-boss-2014-7#ixzz37UQK2zMj) had reported that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was in the process of hiring him as its new PR boss. However, the rumor was debunked short after. The Loop (http://www.loopinsight.com/2014/07/15/about-the-rumor-jay-carney-could-be-apples-next-pr-boss/) informed that Tim Cook had "never even met Jay Carney."