Walmart executive picked as eBays new CEO

Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com & EVP of Membership & Tech, Sam’s Club, Walmart, speaks on “The three things every leader should know” at Center Stage of Web Summit in Altice Arena on November 07, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Horacio Villalobos | Corbis | Getty Images

Online retailer eBay has tapped a Walmart executive as its new chief executive.

Jamie Iannone, Walmart’s chief operating officer for U.S. e-commerce, will take the top job, eBay said Monday in a news release.

Iannone played a key role in Walmart’s digital strategy and was one of the retailer’s rising stars. He was credited for growing the membership and online sales of Sam’s Club, the retailer’s membership-based subsidiary. In late February, he was promoted to lead Walmart’s e-commerce business in the U.S.

With the new role, Iannone is returning to eBay. He spent nearly eight years at the company as a vice president, according to the news release. 

Iannone worked at Walmart-owned Sam’s Club for about six years. He was previously CEO of SamsClub.com and executive vice president of membership and technology. Before joining Sam’s Club, he was executive vice president of digital products at Barnes & Noble, where he helped oversee its Nook devices and digital book business. 

Sam’s Club has served as a test ground for Walmart’s digital initiatives. It launched a service called Scan & Go that allows shoppers to skip the line and check out through a smartphone app instead. It has another voice-enabled app, called “Ask Sam,” that helps employees find an item or answer customers’ questions more quickly.

Thomas Tierney, chairman of eBay’s board, said in a news release that Iannone was the “ideal CEO to lead eBay’s next chapter of growth and success.”

“We have all been impressed by his strong track record of innovation, execution, operational excellence, and developing teams that drive results,” he said. “Jamie has consistently delivered high growth during rapid periods of industry disruption, consumer change and technological advancement.”