2nd February, 2021
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos will step down as head of the company he founded 30 years ago.
The world’s richest man will be replaced by Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, according to a Tuesday press release.
Bezos’s announcement came as Amazon announced financials for the fourth quarter of 2020.
Net sales increased 44 percent to $125.6 billion as opposed to $87.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In a Tuesday statement, Bezos said it was the “optimal time” for the leadership change.
The leadership change will happen in the fall, when he will swap his current title for ‘executive chair’.
Andy Jassy, 52, the chief executive of Amazon Web Services, will take over as CEO.
In a letter to his 1.3 million employees, Bezos said he intends to focus his “energies and attention on new products and early initiatives”.
He added that he is excited about the transition and Amazon “couldn’t be better positioned for the future”.
The new CEO, Jassy joined Amazon in 1997.