The inventor of the video doorbell and founder of Ring is leaving Amazon

Jamie Siminoff, the CEO of Ring, has chosen to leave Amazon to “pursue a new opportunity.”

Siminoff invented the video doorbell in 2011. He founded Ring (named Doorbot, at the time) in 2013 to sell smart home and home security devices. A few years later, Amazon acquired Ring in 2018 for $1 billion USD (about $1.3 billion CAD).

We first heard Siminoff would be stepping down as Ring’s CEO in March of this year, but he wasn’t leaving.

“Invention is my true passion,” Siminoff wrote in a blog post. “I am constantly looking at how we can adapt to deliver for our neighbours, which is what we’ve always called our customers. This is why I decided to shift my role to Chief Inventor and bring on a new CEO.”

Now, according to an email from the new CEO to the staff seen by The Verge, Siminoff is leaving Amazon altogether.

“Ring has changed the way neighbours think about security for the better, and I cannot think of a better place than Amazon for Ring to continue its mission,” Siminoff said in a statement to The Verge. “I look forward to cheering the team on in the future.”

Ring’s new CEO is Elizabeth “Liz” Hamren, who Siminoff praises as having “a long history in consumer devices and subscription services.” Before being named CEO, Hamren was the COO of Discord.

Throughout her career, she has also worked to develop and launch the Oculus Rift from Meta and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S/X console.

Sources: The Verge