Amazon
Amazon's board just approved a $5 billion stock buyback program and appointed a new member, Corning CEO William Weeks, according to a new filing.
The $5 billion stock repurchase authorization replaces the previous $2 billion stock repurchase authorization that the Board of Directors approved in 2010.
The company's stock was up slightly on the news.
Amazon also announced that long-time employee Diego Piacentini will be taking a two-year leave of absence to work pro bono leading the digital technology office of the Italian Prime Minister.
"After 16 years at Amazon, it’s a way for me to give back to the country in which I was born and lived for 40 years of my life," he said in a statement.
As the SVP of Amazon's international consumer business, Piacentini been particularly focused on growth in India.
"The size of opportunity [in India] is so large it will be measured in trillions, not billions," he recently told Fortune. "Trillions of dollars, that is, not rupees."
Piacentini is Amazon's second biggest employee shareholder after founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
He'll be replaced by Russ Grandinetti, SVP of Kindle Content, who will continue to lead that division as well.
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