Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon CEO

After 27 years in the role, Jeff Bezos has decided to step down as CEO of Amazon, leaving the role to Andy Jassy.

Jassy is currently the CEO of AWS, which he helped develop in 2006, and will begin the transition into his new role in Q3.

“[Andy] will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence,” Bezos shared in a statement of the transition.

What’s next for Bezos?

Bezos may be stepping down from his role as CEO, but he certainly won’t be leaving the company in its entirety.

He will now become the Executive Chair of Amazon Board, where he plans to ‘focus [his] energies’ 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. 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,” he shared.

Why is Bezos Leaving?

Bezos says that he is excited about this transition into a new role, despite he still ‘tap dances’ into his office every day. “Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming,” he said.

“I find my work meaningful and fun. I get to work with the smartest, most talented, most ingenious teammates,” Bezos said.

“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.”

Inside Bezos’ Legacy

Amazon hasn’t always been the tech and retail giant it is today. When the company launched 27 years ago, it was only ‘an idea’.

“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,” Bezos explained.

How did it happen? 

“Invention,” said Bezos. “Invention is the root of our success. We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal.”

In Bezos’ statement, he explained how the team at Amazon pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalised recommendations, Prime’s ‘insanely fast’ shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, infrastructure cloud computing, and many others.

“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,” he said.

Bezos ended his statement telling the readers to ‘keep inventing’, even if the idea first ‘looks crazy’.

“Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day one,” he said.

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