Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO; Take over Andrew Jassy

Mr. Bezos, 57, is giving up the day-to-day ribs, as Amazon’s core business of online business retail and computing services thrives through the Covid-19 pandemic, which has worked and move lives to the internet more than ever. The company cited its volatile position as it reported fourth-quarter revenue up 44% to $ 125.56 billion – surpassing $ 100 billion for the first time in a quarter. three months – and profits more than doubled.

But Amazon also faces the biggest regulatory challenges in its history, with multiple federal inspections of its competitive practices and lawyers drafting legislation that could force Amazon to restructure its business. Tensions with regulators and lawyers have directly involved Mr Bezos, who was called as a witness before Congress in the summer for the first time.

Mr. Bezos ’leadership of Amazon has made him one of the most respected, and fearful, leaders in the industry, as well as wealthy enough. He is currently neck and neck with his rival rocket entrepreneur, Tesla Inc. CEO. Elon Musk, as the richest man in the world.

In an email to employees publicly announced Tuesday, Mr. Bezos said he now intends to focus his energy on new products and early ventures as well as his outside interests. “Being the CEO of Amazon is a huge responsibility, and it eats,” Mr. Bezos wrote. “When you’re so worried, it’s hard to focus on anything else.”

Mr. Bezos ’move makes Amazon’s latest of today’s technical giants into leadership a move away from the people who started them. The co-founders of Google took a step back from their managerial roles at its parent Alphabet Inc.

in 2019, and both Apple Inc.

and Microsoft Corp.

Founders have been running for a long time.

Mr. Bezos left a career on Wall Street to start Amazon.com in 1994 as a scrappy online retailer at a time when most Americans did not have computers. Amazon became a success story against all that would go a long way in completely destroying the bookselling business along with almost every other business in its path, from logistics to advertising.

The Seattle-based company was suspended by the executive team with a “Day 1” philosophy for maintaining a subversive start-up philosophy. However, in the last few years, Mr. Bezos has stepped back from the day-to-day management of the tech giant – with a brief hiatus as he became more actively involved in the early days of the pandemic. Many in his inner circle describe Mr Bezos’ role over the past few years as a role as executive chairman. The famous action team is trying not to schedule meetings before 10am and make all the difficult decisions before 5pm. Amazon employees say the billionaire is accessible, with many saying they’ve never seen him on the city’s sprawling Seattle campus.

In 2016, he appointed two of his key representatives to oversee the management of day-to-day operations. Jeff Wilke has been named Amazon’s worldwide consumer leader, overseeing everything from Amazon’s sales arm and custodians to the advertising and gadgets industry. Mr. Jassy was the CEO of the cloud business, known as Amazon Web Services.

The posts freed Mr. Bezos to spend time on inventions and moons. He took on pet projects as the product of Amazon’s voice assistant, the Echo, and spent time with Amazon studio officials on what movies and TV shows he had in mind.

Mr. Bezos ’tightknit group of chief lieutenant at Amazon has seen their levels thin in the past few years. In addition to Mr. Wilke’s departure at the beginning of the year, Jeff Blackburn, a 20-year veteran and a member of Mr. Bezos ‘team of senior officers, took Sunday leave in 2020. Steve Kessel, another member of Mr. Bezos’ chief officers, retired from the company last year.

Beyond Amazon, Mr. Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 and has spent much of his time at Blue Origin LLC, the space company he founded. While Mr. Bezos struggled with the coronavirus pandemic, as the company had to deal with unprecedented demand, he was still involved in the Blue Origin mission. Just last week Mr Bezos posted a picture on Instagram of a “hotfire test” of the Blue Origin engine.

Mr. Bezos has also undergone a major change in his personal life recently. In 2019, Mr. Bezos and his wife separated and the National Enquirer’s tabloid described his connection to a television reporter who was the wife of a Hollywood executive.

The leadership shift at Amazon takes place while it engages with an unprecedented study.

The company is currently the subject of probes from the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the European Union and other regulatory bodies as to whether it engages in anticompetitive practices.

In October, the House Review Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee – before Mr. Bezos testified in July – completed its 16-month review of the largest U.S. technical companies. Their report accused Amazon of imposing a “monopoly power” on sellers on their website and suggested legislation that could force Amazon to leave business lines – such as its private label business or tools – which compete with vendors on their platform.

In response to the Congressional report, Amazon said: “All major organizations are attracting the attention of regulators, and we welcome that review. But big companies are out of control, and the assumption that success cannot be due to anti-competitive behavior is simply wrong. ”

On Tuesday, committee member Ken Buck (R., Colo.) Posted a call on Amazon saying: “I have some questions for Mr. Jassy,” indicating that the new CEO will receive much of the regulatory scrutiny. from its predecessor. .

Write to Dana Mattioli at [email protected]