Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will formally step down as Chief Executive Officer on July 5, handing over to cloud-computing boss Andy Jassy.
“We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” Jeff said Wednesday at the annual shareholder meeting held virtually. Bezos will still remain the executive chairman.
The news is coming as a surprise as the company made its latest financial results public. Only a few companies have thrived like Amazon during the Coronavirus, and in the last three months of the year, the company made a staggering $100bn for the first time.
Amazon was founded by Bezos in 1994 and built he forged it into one of the largest companies in the world, making a fortune of $185bn. The company started as an online bookseller but is now a dominant force in cloud computing, groceries, electronics and entertainment. The company has over 1.1 million people.
“Amazon is what it is because of invention,” said Bezos. “If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative.
“Right now, i see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”
The 57-year-old has stepped down from the day-to-day running of the company to pay more attention to his other interests, including space exploration and his ownership of Washington Post. His departure as chief executive was unexpected though.
Jassy has been Bezos’s heir apparent, vying with Jeff Wilke, who ran Amazon’s retail business until he announced his plans to retire last year. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides cloud computing and storage for governments and companies including McDonald’s and Netflix. It has now become one of the most important businesses for the company, accounting for 10% of sales in the last quarter and 52% of the company’s profits.
The company has kept its succession plans quiet and there are indications that either Jassy or Jeff Wilke would be Bezos’s eventual successor.
