Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as chief executive and become executive chairman, Reuters reported today.
Amazon has hit three record profits in a row, topped $100 billion in quarterly sales for the first time, and Jeff Bezos has stepped down. Andy Jassy, now head of Amazon’s cloud computing business, is the company’s next chief executive.
Mr. Bezos: Still energetic and will continue to be involved in important projects
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon 27 years ago as an Internet bookseller. Today, “As Executive Chairman, I continue to be involved in important Amazon projects, but also have the time and energy to focus on the Day 1 Fund, Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, And other things that I’m passionate about.” Bezos also stressed that his retirement wasn’t due to his health, saying, “I’ve never had more energy than I do now. It’s not about retirement.”
Under Mr Bezos, Amazon began to dominate Internet commerce, establishing itself as a pillar of the modern web infrastructure with its Amazon Web Services product, building a subscription empire around Amazon Prime, and launching popular tech products such as the Echo and Kindle devices. And even started to move into brick-and-mortar retail through grocery stores and the acquisition of Whole Foods.
Bezos has also succeeded as head of the company, using his skyrocketing wealth to become the world’s richest man just a few weeks ago, with a net worth of nearly $180 billion.
The head of AWS takes over, and Amazon rearranges its business strategy
Andy Jassy, who will take over as Amazon’s CEO, joined the company in 1997 and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He founded Amazon Web Services (AWS) and grew it into a cloud platform used by millions of people.
Amazon’s cloud business is an important part of the company, and its new leadership choices reflect that. It is also similar to the choice of other giant CEOs, such as Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, who was also head of the company’s cloud and server businesses before taking over in 2014.
Tom Johnson, chief transformation officer at Mindshare Worldwide, said Jassy’s promotion underscores the importance of Web services to Amazon’s future. “Jassy’s background guiding AWS shows that these services are critical to Amazon’s business strategy,” he said.
AWS, which announced deals with ViacomCBS, BMW and others, reported revenue of $12.7 billion in the quarter, below analysts’ estimates of $12.8 billion.
Amazon said it has no one in place to replace Jassy in its cloud computing division.
