The founder of The world’s largest e-commerce company, Jeff Bezos, surprised the internet with his decision to step down from the position of CEO. Amazon.com Inc will see some major changes internally as Jeff Bezos will no longer be the CEO from the second half of 2021.
The decision was made public through an email to the Amazon employees on Tuesday. Bezos will take over as the executive chairman, while Andy Jassy, head of Amazon’s cloud division Amazon web services (AWS), will be the new CEO.
In the letter, Jeff mentions the reason for this gigantic step-down. “I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.“ said he.
In 2020, Bezos topped the Forbes list of richest Americans for three consecutive years. His net worth is now $202 billion.
As the only founder of Amazon for 27 years, Jeff now plans to step aside and focus on other projects like Blue Origin, Climate pledge, and The Washington Post, all owned by him and other philanthropic endeavors such as Day One fund and Bezos Earth fund.
With 1.3 million employees, Amazon has seen consistent and rapid growth during the pandemic as more and more people had no option but to order online for even the most basic things.
Bezos said in his letter, “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.”
Although he was clear to mention that this is not a “retirement” in any way, being the company’s biggest shareholder and the executive chair, he still holds an important place. He mentions, “As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition.”
As for the new CEO, “Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.” he said in the email to his employees. Andy Jassy leads the AWS that pulled in $12.7 billion in sales in the fourth quarter, making it a $50 billion business annually.
He closed off by saying, “We are leaders in areas as varied as machine learning and logistics, and if an Amazonian’s idea requires yet another new institutional skill, we’re flexible enough and patient enough to learn it. Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first, the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1.”