Amazon has announced that its founder Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as CEO this summer and will be replaced by the current AWS chief Andy Jessy.
This news comes as surprise to many as Amazon has reported its first $100 billion dollar earnings in the recent quarter. Its Net sales increased 44% to $125.6 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $87.4 billion in fourth-quarter 2019.
In the earnings report, Amazon mentioned that Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of Executive Chair in the third quarter of 2021 and Andy Jassy will become Chief Executive Officer at that time.
Andy Jassy has overseen the Amazon cloud computing business “Amazon Web Services (AWS)” which is one of the most profitable businesses for Amazon. AWS had a market share of around 34% in the most recent fourth quarter of last year, according to Synergy Research Group.
Mr. Jassy grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y., and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree and M.B.A from Harvard. His first job out of undergraduate was at MBI Inc., a maker of jewelry and coins.