The former Chief Financial Officer of Amazon was killed while riding her bicycle on Wednesday afternoon. Covey was the CFO of the e-commerce firm when it conducted its initial public offering. The California Highway Patrol told Bay City News that Covey was riding downhill along Skyline Boulevard when she crashed into a minivan going uphill. Covey was on the Board of Trustees of the National Resource Defense Council in San Francisco.

Covey joined Amazon in December of 1996 when it was still starting as an online seller. When she came on board as the CFO, there were only 150 employees in the company and had USD 16 million in sales. Bloomberg reported that as of last year, Amazon already had more than USD 88,400 employees. It posted more than USD 61 billion in sales.

When she handled the IPO of the e-commerce site on May 14, 1997, Amazon's price per share was USD 18. As of September 20, its share price was pegged at USD 316.67.

Amazon is now known as more than just a seller of books. Shoes, apparel, health and beauty products can be found in its online store. It has also been making investments in infrastructure. Forbes said the company had announced that it would hire 5, 000 more workers to man its widening number of distribution centers in the US.