Amazon board member Krikorian resigns

Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian has quit the board of Amazon.com about a year and a half after joining.

 

SAN FRANCISCO: Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian has quit the board of Amazon.com about a year and a half after joining to take up an unspecified role at the buyer of a company he owned.

Krikorian, known for co-founding Sling Media in 2004, informed the rest of the board on Wednesday of his intention to resign, Amazon said in a Friday filing.

Spokesman Ty Rogers added that the serial entrepreneur, whose latest endeavor is home-automation start-up id8 Group R2 Studios, has sold a company and quit in order to take up a position at the acquirer. He did not name the company involved or the buyer.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Krikorian's year-old start-up was in acquisition discussions with Amazon rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft. It cited sources as saying the trio of tech powerhouses coveted R2 Studios' home-oriented technology as they expanded their own forays into living-room media entertainment.

R2 Studios recently launched a Google Android application to allow users to control home heating and lighting systems from their smartphone. Krikorian's Sling Media -- which was sold to EchoStar Communications in 2007 -- made the 'Slingbox' for watching TV on computers.

Krikorian, known also for doing double duty as an angel investor, joined Amazon's board in September of last year, a move hailed as helping propel Amazon's own substantial efforts in online media.

Posted in: IT News