Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos to step down as CEO

 

SEATTLE, Washington - Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is to relinquish his role as CEO and take the chair of the company in an executive capacity.

His replacement as CEO will be Andy Jassy, who has headed Amazon Web Services (AWS) since 2003.

The announcement by the company accompanied the release of its fourth quarter and annual financial results on Tuesday.

Bezos (pictured), who was born in Albuquerque and raised in Miami and Houston, has gone on to become the world's richest man, with a personal wealth now exceeding $200 billion.

"Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of Executive Chair in the third quarter of 2021 and Andy Jassy will become Chief Executive Officer at that time," Amazon Inc. said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime's insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more," Bezos said Tuesday.

"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 results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition," he added.

"Yesterday Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, indicated that he will be taking a new role within the company and stepping down as CEO. The new CEO of Amazon will be Andy Jassy, who has been at the head of the successful Amazon Web Services (AWS) for several years. This switch demonstrates, among other things, the enormous value and growth of AWS within Amazon. The company is a leader in cloud infrastructure and a source of innovation. It is precisely this cloud market that is also the place for further growth for Amazon. Andy Jassy knows this better than anyone and is the man who must provide continuity and stability as Amazon's new leader. It may take some getting used to for some to no longer have the founder as the frontman within the company, but Veeam is the living example that such a change can actually create new opportunities and enormous growth," Danny Allan, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior Vice President (SVP) of Product Strategy at Veeam said Wednesday.