Jeff Bezos announced his step down as the Amazon CEO

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Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994. In these 27 years, he served uninterruptedly as CEO of the company. Under his lead Amazon became one of the largest companies in the world (and he, one of the richest men along with it). Despite this, Bezos is leaving: starting in the third quarter of this year, he will step down from his position and take a new executive role at the company.



Who will be Bezos’ successor?

Andy Jassy, who joined Amazon in 1997 as a marketing manager and currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will take on after Bezos departure. He joined Amazon in 1997 as a marketing manager and currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will take on after Bezos departure.

Bezos says he chooses to retire now precisely because he sees Amazon “at its most inventive” and when its financial results reflect “the long-term results” of past inventions. From now on, he explains, he will choose to focus on his philanthropic initiatives, on his aerospace exploration company and on the Washington Post newspaper he bought eight years ago:

“I will continue to be involved in important Amazon initiatives, but I will 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.”

A little more about Andy Jassy

With his 53 years, this New Yorker and MBA from Harvard Business School graduate has gone from marketing manager to turn the Amazon cloud project into a business valued in billions of euros, widely surpassing companies like Google or Microsoft. “Andy is well known within the company and has been with Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader,” says Bezos in the letter announcing his dismissal from the position.

In 2002, Jassy moved to the role of VP and Technical Assistant with Bezos, working directly for him. During this stage, Jassy became Bezos’ “right hand”, accompanying him to meetings, trips and conferences. As described by the Washington Post, Jassy will inherit Amazon as a replica of the Bezos figure. Not so much in technical profile or personality, but in an attention to detail and equivalent way of managing teams. “He is more a person of creative ideas than a person of operations”, describe those who know him.

Jeff bezos steps down

“For me it was valuable to be able to see how Jeff operated every day, as well as to see the treatment of his leaders and his direct reports,” explains Jassy himself in an interview with CNR. It was during those 18 months that the foundation for Amazon Web Services was laid. Bezos and Jassy saw the need to create a common web service for Amazon developers. A tool to improve the work of others that over the years has been the basis of Jassy’s philosophy.

Before working with Bezos, Jassy helped drive the first projects beyond the sale of books and designed the strategy to start selling audio media files online. With the AWS, Jassy started his journey with a team of 57 people. Later, in 2016, he was appointed CEO of that Amazon division, which over the years has ended up becoming the company’s main revenue arm, even ahead of the e-commerce branch itself.

Jassy has been with Bezos at critical moments in the company, including deals at the highest level. This is the case of the partnership with Salesforce, where Jassy led the negotiations with Marc Benioff.

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