Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO this year

[Polycount]

A hot potato: Amazon started life as a humble online bookstore, but it's grown to become one of the biggest multinational tech corporations in the world -- all under the watchful eye of founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. However, all of that is about to change. In an email sent off to his employees today, Bezos announced some important news: in the third quarter of 2021, he will be officially stepping down as CEO of Amazon, and will instead become the Executive Chair of the company's Board of Directors.

After 27 years of service, Bezos will hand over the company's reins to his friend and colleague, Andrew Jassy. Jassy is perhaps best known for founding Amazon's incredibly-popular Web Services (AWS) division.

AWS is a cloud computing platform that serves well over one million users; indeed, it's the reason many of your favorite websites and services are live today. AWS' success, coupled with Jassy's long tenure at Amazon -- he joined in 1997 -- have made it clear to Bezos that he's the best man for the job.

"Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have," Bezos writes in his announcement. "He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence."

The question on all of our minds now is... why? Why is Bezos leaving now, of all times? Amazon is in better financial shape than ever, and the soon-to-be-ex CEO is one of the wealthiest people on the planet.

Apparently, the answer is simple: time. Bezos is responsible for several companies and initiatives right now, including the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, and Blue Origin, to name a few. According to him, his role as the leader of Amazon simply doesn't leave him enough time and energy to give these other projects his all.

When he finally steps down from the leadership position, Bezos will be in a much better position to help those organizations thrive.

As mentioned before, Bezos' decision here does not represent a complete detachment from Amazon as a company. Upon becoming Chair of the Board, Bezos will still be able to retain some control and influence over Amazon's overall direction, without requiring him to be as present for the day-to-day operations. It sounds like a happy medium for the multi-billionaire.

To close things off, we'll leave you with a final statement from Bezos himself:

Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88502-jeff-bezos-step-down-amazon-ceo-year.html

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

He is already the richest man in the world, he made an absolute killing during the pandemic while small business were forced closed he was allowed to stay open

 

[Phylop]

This seems to allude to when Bill Gates handed CEO of Microsoft over to Steve Balmer and Bill took the role as Chairman. I wonder about the future of Amazon, as it is a huge corporation; with arguably even more influence over our lives than Microsoft ever had at the time Gates began to shift his role down. This makes me wonder, what would the future look like if Amazon enters a downward spiral? Not to imply this necessarily means that.

 

[defaultluser]

Hey, maybe this mean Blue Origin will actually have the hands-on management required to launch it's first orbital rocket before 2025?

 

[m4a4]

I've heard that he wants to focus on the R&D department. Something about beating Superman...

 

[p51d007]

Awwwww...he wants to spend more time with his BILLIONS LOL

 

[m3tavision]

Davos was not too friendly to his "Me 1st" policy & attitude... and for squealing to CCP about certain maneuvers...

 

[Uncle Al]

Personally .... I think he's starting to hear the Fed's footsteps and hopes to avoid prosecution. While I can't see it happening in my lifetime the fact is that the Congress & Senate are also starting to show some strong negativity towards him and similar high-tech companies, which could have an affect on the business. Of course the other alternative is he just wants more time to chase that girlfriend of his .....

 

[gandalf D WHITE]

Personally .... I think he's starting to hear the Fed's footsteps and hopes to avoid prosecution. While I can't see it happening in my lifetime the fact is that the Congress & Senate are also starting to show some strong negativity towards him and similar high-tech companies, which could have an affect on the business. Of course the other alternative is he just wants more time to chase that girlfriend of his .....

]
Dont be silly... He is from the same snake`s nest than the most of the senators are... plus just another snake replaced him... so nothing really change and nothing will... corporate fascism is still strong in US...

 

[Avro Arrow]

Jeff Bezos has some kind of mental illness. There's no way that I would ever be able to be a billionaire because I'd have retired LONG before even getting close to that level. Once I had enough money that I didn't have to work anymore, there's no way in hell that I would keep on doing so.

To keep working when you no longer have to instead of really doing things to enjoy life is both insane and stupid because the one thing that your money will never be able to buy you is TIME.

 

[GLenn63]

I watched on the news last night that he was making some of his employees work a shift from 1:00am to 12:00pm and that keeping their job depended on it. I have never understood cruel bosses that go out of their way way to make their staff miserable.