Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO as Andy Jassy takes over
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, formally stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce company he established 27 years ago on Monday.
He delegated the position to Andy Jassy so that he could focus on “new products and early initiatives.” Andy Jassy joined the business in 1997 and has managed Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing platform, since 2003.
Bezos said he intended to spend more time on his other businesses, including the Washington Post, space company Blue Origin, and philanthropy, when the company announced in February that he would transfer from CEO to executive chair.
“This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, ‘What’s the internet?’ Blessedly, I haven’t had to explain that in a long while,” he wrote in a letter to Amazon employees earlier this year.
“Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognised as one of the most successful companies in the world.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos isn’t going away anytime soon. He’ll continue to serve as Amazon’s executive chairman, where he’ll “remain active in critical Amazon efforts,” as well as devote more time and focus to other projects including the Day One Fund and Bezos Earth Fund charities, The Washington Post newspaper, and his Blue Origin space firm.