Ford Motor Co has appointed Amazon.com Inc veteran Tim Stone as its new chief financial officer. Stone, 52, replaces Bob Shanks, who will retire at the end of 2019 after serving the company for 42 years.

Stone’s appointment is the automaker's first external hire for the role in seven decades. He held various financial roles at Amazon for two decades, and was most recently CFO of Snapchat messaging app owner, Snap Inc., which he quit in less than a year after taking the job.

Stone’s appointment will be effective from 1 June, Ford stated. He will work closely with Shanks on the transition and then on special projects through the end of the year. Stone will report to Chief Executive Jim Hackett.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett said, “We're so excited to have Tim join Ford at this incredible time for our company as we strive to become the world's most trusted company, designing smart vehicles for a smart world.”

In addition, the automaker also named Mark Ovenden to the role of president of International Markets Group, replacing Peter Fleet, who will retire. 

Ford ended 2018 with $23.1 Bn and hopes its losses in China would narrow this year. Stone’s appointment closely follows the development of the automaker announcing its plans last week to cut more than 5,000 jobs in Germany and also trimming its workforce in Britain as it seeks to return to profit in Europe. 

Interestingly, the last time Ford named an outsider to the role of CFO was in 1949 when Theodore Yntema, previously a consulting economist to Ford, was hired for the position. How well will this cross-pollination move pan out for the automaker will be something to watch out for given that many automakers are trying to do the same, and bringing in  people from social media, online retail, and other software-dominant industries in to their management and engineering ranks as they prepare to transform themselves for the era of self-driving and shared mobility.

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