Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO of Amazon, becoming executive chairman of the company he conceived 27 years ago on a road trip to Seattle, and built into one of the world’s most valuable companies.
Bezos will make the transition in the third quarter of this year, when he will be replaced as CEO by longtime lieutenant Andy Jassy, who made his mark as the leader of Amazon’s fast-growing cloud business, the company announced Tuesday afternoon.
In an email to Amazon employees announcing the news, Bezos said he’ll spend more time focusing on new products and early initiatives.
“As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions,” he wrote. “I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.”
Speaking with reporters and analysts, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky sought to give a sense of continuity, saying Bezos will continue to have “fingerprints on a lot of areas of product development and innovation.”
“Jeff is really not going anywhere,” Olsavsky said. “It’s more restructuring of who’s doing what.”
The company will especially use Bezos’ horsepower on “one-way doors,” the finance chief said, using the company’s language for major decisions that are not easily reversed or changed.
Olsavsky said “Andy has a chance to put his imprint on Amazon.”
“Andy of course brings his own skill set,” Olsavsky said. “He’s a visionary leader in his own right, a great operator; he understands what makes Amazon such a special, innovative place. So we’re expecting a lot of continuity.”
He added, “We certainly have a transition to make on the AWS business, but we expect that will be handled well, as well. And we’ll look forward to this new leadership profile we have.”
Olsavsky said the company did not have any details to share in regard to a replacement for Jassy.
Jassy, who joined Amazon in 1997, has been a leading candidate to succeed Bezos as CEO. Jeff Wilke, another longtime Amazon exec who led the company’s Worldwide Consumer business, was another potential successor but Wilke said in August that he was leaving Amazon and retiring this quarter.
Werner Vogels, CTO at Amazon, called Jassy “the absolute best person to lead the company.”
After many years at @amazon I can tell you that @ajassy is the absolute best person lead the company. More customer obsessed than any other leader I have met. #stilldayone https://t.co/NQXXnrbGur
— Werner Vogels (@Werner) February 2, 2021
Bezos’ net worth has grown to more than $180 billion. Amazon has surged amid the pandemic and reported a record holiday quarter Tuesday with $125.6 billion in revenue. Bezos is the company’s largest individual shareholder.
Here’s an official statement from Bezos, who just turned 57 years old in January:
“Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”
Here’s the full email from Bezos to Amazon staff:
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.
How did that happen? Invention. Invention is the root of our success. We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.
I don’t know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazon’s, and I believe we are at our most inventive right now. I hope you are as proud of our inventiveness as I am. I think you should be.
As Amazon became large, we decided to use our scale and scope to lead on important social issues. Two high-impact examples: our $15 minimum wage and the Climate Pledge. In both cases, we staked out leadership positions and then asked others to come along with us. In both cases, it’s working. Other large companies are coming our way. I hope you’re proud of that as well.
I find my work meaningful and fun. I get to work with the smartest, most talented, most ingenious teammates. When times have been good, you’ve been humble. When times have been tough, you’ve been strong and supportive, and we’ve made each other laugh. It is a joy to work on this team.
As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition. Millions of customers depend on us for our services, and more than a million employees depend on us for their livelihoods. 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. As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.
Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future. We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to. We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish. We serve individuals and enterprises, and we’ve pioneered two complete industries and a whole new class of devices. 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.
Jeff
