NEW YORK — Amazon on Tuesday announced CEO Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as chief executive officer by the end of this year, after founding the company 27 years ago.
Bezos will transition to the role of executive chair during the third quarter of this year, Amazon announced. Andy Jassy, the chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will take over as the new CEO of Amazon.
"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 in a statement.
He added: "If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. 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."
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and under his leadership, the company grew from an online bookstore into a mega online retailer that operates all over the globe.
As head of the company, Bezos became the world's wealthiest person in 2017 and held that title until January 2021, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk surpassed him.
Currently, Bezos has a net worth of around $184 billion.
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