Jeff Bezos is stepping down as Amazon CEO. This marks a major change at the top of the Amazon tree, considering it was Bezos who started the company almost three decades ago. Although the change in leadership has now been officially confirmed, it is not due to take effect immediately. Here’s when Amazon will have a new CEO and why Bezos is stepping away from the role.
Amazon was founded in 1994 and at a time when accessing the internet was nowhere near as common as it is today. However, as the internet evolved, so did Amazon, moving from a humble online bookselling platform to the retail and tech goliath it is today. Throughout this period, Amazon has continued to innovate and expand its reach, with some of its latest goals even taking the company into space.
Amazon today announced its fourth quarter results which is news in itself. However, the announcement also confirmed that Jeff Bezos is stepping down from the CEO role and transitioning to the role of Executive Chair with Andy Jassy due to take over as Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer. The changeover won’t happen immediately, but is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2021.
Why Bezos Is Stepping Away
After twenty-seven years at the company, it looks like Bezos is now ready for a change. Shortly after the announcement was official, Bezos released an email to employees. The message reiterates the point of stepping down, but also provides some more context on why. Bezos explains that going forward the goal is to focus “on new products and early initiatives.” Bezos did not particularly provide any further details on these “new products” but did touch on the initiatives. For example, explaining that the Amazon CEO role is hugely time-consuming and once the transition takes place, he expects to have more time to focus on the scholarship-based Day 1 Fund, the clean energy-focused Bezos Earth Fund, the ambitious Blue Origin spaceflight company, and The Washington Post.
In terms of where this leaves Amazon, Bezos continually referred to how inventive the company has been over the years as one of its major strengths and a direction it expects Amazon to continue focusing on going forward. In fact, Bezos explained that now was the right time to make this move, considering Amazon is “at its most inventive ever” right now. Of course, with Bezos transitioning from CEO to Executive Chair, the company’s founder isn’t exactly clearing out a desk, packing boxes, and heading for the door. If anything, Bezos is likely to continue to be actively involved in the overall direction of the company and will almost certainly continue to be a major influence. It is just highly likely that Bezos won’t be spending as much time or attention focusing on Amazon's day-to-day operations in the future.