Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will resign as chief executive later this year and step into the role of executive chair.

Bezos, who has run Amazon since the company’s inception in 1994, will hand the reins to Andy Jassy, the boss of its cloud computing business Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

The shock news came as Amazon posted details of its fourth-quarter earnings. The business surpassed $100bn (£73bn) in sales for the first time during the crucial Christmas trading period as revenues rocketed during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Net sales surged 44% to $125.6bn (£92bn) in the three months to December 31, 2020, as net income more than doubled year on year to $7.2bn (£5.3bn). 

Bezos said it was the “optimal time” for him to step aside and hand the baton to Jassy.

Amazon started as an online bookseller but has grown exponentially in less than three decades. It is now a giant of cloud computing, groceries, electronics and entertainment, employing more than 1.3 million people in markets across the globe. 

Bezos said: “Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal. 

“We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalised recommendations, Prime’s insanely fast shipping, just-walk-out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice and much more. 

“If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. 

“When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”

Jassy emerged as Bezos’ obvious heir apparent after Jeff Wilke, the boss of Amazon’s retail business, revealed his plans to retire last summer. 

Under Jassy’s leadership, AWS has become a vital division for Amazon. It now provides cloud computing services to global giants such as Netflix and McDonald’s, and accounted for more than half of Amazon’s profits during the fourth quarter of 2020. 

Over the full year, Amazon’s net sales surged 38% to $386bn (£282bn). Net income rocketed 84% to $21.3bn (£15.6bn).

Topics