Amazon in German-speaking countries changes executive after 20 years.
In January 2002, country manager Ralph Kleber, who has held the post since February 2002, will hand over his post to Rocco Brauniger, 47, who was previously in charge of the European consumer products business. The company announced this Tuesday in Munich.In his new position, Brauniger, like his predecessor, will run Amazon not only in Germany, but also in Austria and Switzerland.
Amazon has been operating in Germany since 1998, with several dozen employees at the time. Kleber joined in 1999, and in 2000 he was the company's first chief financial officer before taking over in February 2002. Today, Amazon employs more than 28,000 people in three countries, generating nearly $30 billion in annual sales, according to Amazon.
Browniger has been an Amazon manager for many years and has been with the group since 2006. Kleber will remain at Amazon until mid-2022.
Amazon continues to expand rapidly. The group currently employs nearly 1.5 million people, and Amazon has hired nearly 600,000 people worldwide since the second quarter of 2020 alone. Most of the workforce, about a million people, is based in the United States. For the Christmas season alone, Amazon was looking for more than 300,000 seasonal workers worldwide, 50,000 of them in Europe.
Future executive#nbsp; Browniger stressed that Amazon is aware of its responsibilities. "That includes a very honest and good relationship with all employees, as well as our promise to operate in a climate-neutral manner by 2040." Amazon has been criticized for years by unions and environmentalists. Verdi opposes Amazon's rejection of collective bargaining agreements, with environmental initiatives often targeting packaging waste. Amazon has consistently#nbsp; refuted these accusations.