Mr Bezos will step down as CEO during the third quarter of this year and will transition to executive chair of Amazon’s board. The Amazon founder announced the decision to his employers in a letter earlier today. Mr Bezos said he will stay engaged in important Amazon projects but the move will allow him to have more time to focus on the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
The letter said: “I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO.
“In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.
“Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.”
Mr Bezos said the move “isn’t about retiring”, and insisted he’s “never had more energy”.
Mr Jassy, who will succeed Mr Bezos, is currently the CEO of Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing business.
He has worked for the company since 1997, when he joined as a marketing manager.
Mr Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and the company is now worth more than $1.6trillion (£1.2trillion).
The news comes as Amazon beat estimates for sales in the last quarter of last year, with sales topping $100billion (£73.1billion) for the first time.
Net sales rose to $125.56billion (£91.9billion) in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $87.44billion (£63.9billion), beating estimates of $119.7 billion (£87.6billion), according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
It represented a 43 percent rise on the same period in 2019
The sales boost was partly down to the company’s decision to move its Amazon Prime Day, usually held in July, to October.
Amazon has also benefitted from the coronavirus pandemic, with shops and retailers forced to close under lockdown rules.
As a result, consumers shifted to make purchases online.
Mr Bezos had been the richest person in the world since 2017 and is currently worth a whopping $184billion (£134.7billion).
But last month Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, overtook the Amazon founder for the top spot.
Mr Musk is believed to have a net worth of more than $185billion (£135.4billion), according to CNBC.
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