Jeff Bezos will step down as the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of e-commerce giant Amazon in fall this year. According to an official statement released by the company, he will now hold the position of executive chairman. Bezos will make a place for Andy Jassy who currently oversees the position of cloud computing chief.
Bezos, 57, founded Amazon in 1994 and has held onto his position as the company CEO for 27 years now. In a blog post to employees, the entrepreneur wrote that now he aims to pay his focus on new products and early initiatives being developed at Amazon. He also added that he will now have more time for side projects, including his company Blue origin, his philanthropic adventures, and The Washington Post.
“As exec chair, I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions,” he said. “I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring,” he added.
While he might have laid off some of his responsibilities, Bezos will still have a strong influence over Amazon’s board decisions as he continues to be the company’s biggest shareholder.
The development comes at a time when the company reported its third consecutive record profit while its quarterly sales went above $100 billion for the first time.