Jeff Bezos to Bid Goodbye to Amazon, Andy Jassy New CEO

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will officially step down from his role as chief executive on July 5. He made this announcement during the company's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy will take over the CEO post while Bezos will continue in the role of Amazon's Executive Chairman. 

"We chose that date because it’s a sentimental one for me. It's the date that Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago, "Bezos said. "I’m very excited about moving into the exec chair role where I will focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives."

Earlier, Amazon announced in February that Bezos would leave his CEO post later this year. At the time, the company said the transition to Jassy would take place at some point in Q3. 

In 2003, Jassy was a member of the AWS founding team. He's been the CEO of a division he helped grow into a juggernaut since 2016. AWS made $13.5 billion in the first three months of 2021.  That's 12 percent of Amazon’s total revenue for the quarter. 

Bezos said he expects that Jassy, who has been at the company for 24 years will be "an outstanding leader,"after rising through its ranks to run its most profitable division.