Jeff Bezos is stepping down as the CEO of Amazon, 27 years after founding it with his ex-wife and building it into one of the most successful companies of all time that is now worth $1.7trillion.
Bezos, 57, will be replaced by Andy Jassy, the current CEO of Amazon Web Services, and he will move to the role of Executive Chair where he says he wants to focus on ‘new products and initiatives’.
The move will not happen until the third quarter of this year.
Bezos announced the change in an email to staff on Tuesday afternoon.
He said: ‘Fellow Amazonians,
‘I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO.
‘In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.
‘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.
‘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.
‘Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one of the most successful companies in the world,’ he said.
