One of the richest men in the world is stepping down as CEO of his own company.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO and transition to a new position at the company as executive chair of the Amazon board in the third quarter of 2021. Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will replace Bezos as Amazon CEO.
“I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO,” Bezos wrote in a statement sent to employees. “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.”
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Under Bezos’ leadership, Amazon has come to dominate over internet commerce, established itself as the source of the infrastructure of the modern web through its Amazon Web Services products, built a subscription empire around its Amazon Prime services, launched popular technology products like the Echo and Kindle lines of devices. Amazon even got into the retail grocery space by acquiring Wholefoods.
Bezos’ transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board will mean he’ll be slightly more removed from the day-to-day business of running the nearly $1.7 trillion company. The move will also allow him to launch and focus on other endeavors.