Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of Executive Chair at the end of 2021’s third financial quarter, the company announced.
Amazon made the announcement on its 2021 Q4 earnings call, which it held on Feb. 2, according to Business Wire. Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services, will take over for Bezos. Amazon Web Services is Amazon’s cloud computing technology arm. (RELATED: Amazon Extends Remote Work To June 2021: Report)
“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,” Bezos said of his time as CEO. “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.”
Jassy has touted the cloud computing technology in previous media appearances, suggesting that it could become an even bigger part of Amazon’s business model.
Thanks for having me, @jchatterleyCNN. Was great chatting with you about #AWS & the ability for #cloud to #reInvent almost every industry during the most critical & challenging times, including in the wake of the current #COVID19 pandemic. https://t.co/2lPYJr5Yqj
— Andy Jassy (@ajassy) December 10, 2020
Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk are the two richest men in the world, with their rankings fluctuating based off of where their companies’ stock prices are trading. Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, founded Amazon in 1993, calling it “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore,” according to the New York Times.