Amazon chief Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994
Credit: AP
Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, whose leadership of the online retail giant has made him one of the world’s richest people and most successful executives, is stepping down as chief executive this year.
Mr Bezos will move to an executive chairman role in the third quarter of 2021, Amazon said in a surprise announcement last night. He will be replaced by Andy Jassy, the head of the company’s successful cloud computing division.
The 57-year-old, who has run Amazon since starting the company in 1994, has devoted increasing amounts of time to other interests in recent years even as the online retail giant has exploded in size during the pandemic.
Mr Bezos, worth almost $190bn, said he would have more time for interests in other areas, including his rocket company Blue Origin, philanthropic climate work, and ownership of the Washington Post newspaper.
In a letter to staff yesterday, he said he would “stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need” to focus on other endeavours.
Read more: Jeff Bezos: How Amazon’s ‘smiling assassin’ went from super-geek to king of the world
He said that his work at Amazon would focus on “new products and initiatives”, suggesting he will leave the day-to-day running of the company to the new chief executive.
Andy Jassy will take over as chief executive
Credit: REUTERS
Mr Jassy, who joined Amazon in 1997, has been one of its most prominent executives in recent years. He has led Amazon Web Services, which has become the company’s profit engine and its second largest business behind online retailing, since the division was founded in 2003.
"Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition," Mr Bezos said in a quote accompanying its quarterly results.
It came as the company posted record sales, crossing $100bn in a single quarter for the first time as it benefited from lockdowns that have pummelled physical retailers.
Read more: Andy Jassy – the rock fan behind Amazon’s most profitable business
The US giant revealed revenues of $125.6bn in the three months to the end of December, a 44pc year-on-year rise, as it profited from unprecedented levels of online shopping during the pre-Christmas period.
Passing $100bn in quarterly sales, days after Apple also passed the milestone for the first time, puts Amazon in a select group of corporate giants including Walmart and ExxonMobil, after a year of rapid growth in which it has invested billions to stay ahead of rivals.
It means the company has grown tenfold in the last decade, having first reported sales above $10bn in the same quarter a decade earlier.
Although Amazon has often struggled to cope with demand this year, occasionally rationing space in its warehouses, the pandemic has turbocharged the $1.7 trillion company’s growth.
For the whole of 2020, Amazon reported sales of $386bn, up from $280.5bn in 2019.
Bezos email to Amazon staff
Profits for the final quarter of the year alone were $7.2bn, more than doubling year-on-year and also a record for the company, despite it spending billions on coronavirus-related measures such as testing, increasing its workforce to more than 1m people, and extra pay.
Amazon’s growing size, which has seen Mr Bezos vie with Elon Musk for the title of world’s richest person, has brought new scrutiny amid fears the company is taking advantage of workers and unfairly harming suppliers.
Yesterday, it paid $61.7m to US regulators to settle claims it had failed to fully pass on tips to delivery drivers who worked as contractors.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, last night reported quarterly sales of $56.9bn, up 23pc, and a 69pc increase in profit to $15.7bn.
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