Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO Later this Year

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s billionaire founder will be stepping down as Chief Executive Officer of the company in July.

According to the memo received by employees, Jeff will leave the position he’s held for 30 years and transition to the executive chair of the company’s board later this year.

It added that Amazon’s longtime employee, Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services, will assume the role of CEO.

From online bookstore to e-commerce Gaint

Jeff has run Amazon since he founded it in 1994. In nearly three decades, he has led the company from the online bookstore it started as into an e-commerce giant.

Now, the billionaire tech entrepreneur is planning to step back from the company’s day-to-day operations. In his statement, Bezos pointed out that it is “an optimal time for this transition.” 

“Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else,”

Bezos said in the letter to employees. 

He added that he will “stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives” but will be focusing more on other projects including philanthropic initiatives like Day One Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, a space company and  The Washington Post.

Jeff is currently the richest man in the world with a net worth of $196.2 billion.

Who is Amazon’s Incoming CEO, Andy Jassy?

Andy Jassy has been part of Amazon since 1997. He joined the e-commerce giants after he successfully completed his final MBA exam at Harvard Business School.

In 2006, Andy took the helm at Amazon’s Web service division (AWS) after it was founded. The division has grown exponentially to become the world’s dominant cloud provider.

According to Analysts, revenue generated by AWS will reach $71 billion (€59 billion) in 2022. This would give the division a valuation of about $350 billion.

Once Jeff steps down, Andy will take on the reins of the Amazon empire.

Notably, other prominent CEO/Founders that have stepped down, include Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jack Ma of Alibaba.