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Jeff Bezos Stepping Down As Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos has announced that he will step down as CEO of Amazon, leaving the helm of the company he…
Jeff Bezos has announced that he will step down as CEO of Amazon, leaving the helm of the company he founded 27 years ago.
Bezos will transition to the role of executive chair in the third quarter of this year, which begins 1 July, the company said. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will take over as the CEO of Amazon.
Bezos started from a small back office with a single computer, and went well on his way to building Amazon into a $1.7 trillion behemoth that sold so many different items online it became known as āthe everything store.ā In the process, he upended the retail industry, turned Amazon into a logistics giant, and expanded into cloud computing, streaming entertainment and artificial intelligence-powered devices. For a moment there, he even became the worldās richest person.
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In a memo to Amazon employees, Bezos said, “Iām excited to announce that this Q3 Iāll 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 a generation ago. At the time, “Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, āWhatās the internet?ā Blessedly, I havenāt had to explain that in a long while.”
Bezos is not expected to disappear from Amazon. The change is seen as more of more a restructuring of who is doing what. And, of course, it is still Day One. Below is his letter in full.
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Fellow Amazonians:
Iām excited to announce that this Q3 Iāll 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, āWhatās the internet?ā Blessedly, I havenāt had to explain that in a long while.
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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. Weāve done crazy things together, and then made them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Primeās 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 donāt know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazonās, 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, itās working. Other large companies are coming our way. I hope youāre 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, youāve been humble. When times have been tough, youāve been strong and supportive, and weāve made each other laugh. It is a joy to work on this team.
As much as I still tap dance into the office, Iām 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 itās consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, itās 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. Iāve never had more energy, and this isnāt about retiring. Iām super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.
Amazon couldnāt 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 weāve 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 Amazonianās idea requires yet another new institutional skill, weāre flexible enough and patient enough to learn it.
Keep inventing, and donāt despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1.
Jeff