Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as the company’s chief executive officer this summer, after more than a quarter-century at the helm of the retail, logistics and tech powerhouse.
Jeff Bezos will leave his post later this year, turning the helm over to the company’s top cloud executive, Andy Jassy, according to an announcement on Tuesday. Bezos will transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board.
Jassy joined Amazon in 1997. He has led the Web Services cloud team since its inception. AWS drives much of Amazon’s profit.
“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 said in a letter to employees.
“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 added.
Bezos said as chairman, he will focus his energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.
The mogul’s other interests are Bezos Earth Fund, The Washington Post and Amazon Day 1 Fund.
Amazon sells and delivers a wide range of products worldwide.
The gigantic online retailer is worth more than $1.6trillion; Bezos is the second richest man after Elon Musk.
