After 27 years of building a literal empire โ and more than enough funds to kick his feet up for retirement several lifetimes over โ Jeff Bezos has announced he will officially step down from the position of Amazon CEO in Q3 of this year through an open letter directed to over a million company employees.
Transitioning into the role of executive chairman, Bezos will be replaced by one Andy Jass โ former โshadow adviserโ and current head of Amazon Web Services. The news comes as Amazon also reveals its astonishing Q4 2020 numbers, which saw net sales rising all the way from US$87.44 billion to US$125.56 billion, exceeding the initial estimate of US$119.7 billion according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Read the letter below.
Fellow Amazonians,
Iโm excited to announce that this Q3 Iโll 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.
This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, โWhatโs the internet?โ Blessedly, I havenโt had to explain that in a long while.
Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one of the most successful companies in the world.
How did that happen? Invention. Invention is the root of our success. Weโve done crazy things together, and then made them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Primeโs insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.
I donโt know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazonโs, and I believe we are at our most inventive right now. I hope you are as proud of our inventiveness as I am. I think you should be.
As Amazon became large, we decided to use our scale and scope to lead on important social issues. Two high-impact examples: our $15 minimum wage and the Climate Pledge. In both cases, we staked out leadership positions and then asked others to come along with us. In both cases, itโs working. Other large companies are coming our way. I hope youโre proud of that as well.
I find my work meaningful and fun. I get to work with the smartest, most talented, most ingenious teammates. When times have been good, youโve been humble. When times have been tough, youโve been strong and supportive, and weโve made each other laugh. It is a joy to work on this team.
As much as I still tap dance into the office, Iโm excited about this transition. Millions of customers depend on us for our services, and more than a million employees depend on us for their livelihoods. Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and itโs consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, itโs hard to put attention on anything else. 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. Iโve never had more energy, and this isnโt about retiring. Iโm super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.
Amazon couldnโt be better positioned for the future. We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to. We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish. We serve individuals and enterprises, and weโve pioneered two complete industries and a whole new class of devices. We are leaders in areas as varied as machine learning and logistics, and if an Amazonianโs idea requires yet another new institutional skill, weโre flexible enough and patient enough to learn it.
Keep inventing, and donโt despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1.
Jeff
