Months after announcing his decision to step down from the post of chief executive officer, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has now picked a date for it. Bezos has been in the chair for 27 years and in February this year, the company announced that Andy Jassy will be the next CEO of the company. However, at that time the company had only said that the successor of Bezos will take over later this year. But the Amazon founder has now picked a date for it. Bezos has announced that his tenure as CEO will come to an end in July. For the uninitiated, July 5 happens to be the foundation day of the company. After resigning from the post of CEO, Bezos will serve as an executive chairman of the company.
“We have picked the date of July 5 because it is the day Amazon was incorporated in the year 1994. On July 5, I will complete exactly 27 years as the CEO of the company and therefore this is a special day,” Bezos told shareholders during his final annual meeting as CEO. The meeting was held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. It must be mentioned that Bezos had founded Amazon as an online bookstore store in 1994. But he later went on to convert it into a shopping and entertainment behemoth. While announcing the change, Bezos had said that it would help him focus more on other products along with his philanthropic activities.
Jassy will formally take charges from Bezos on July 5. He has been associated with the company for a long time and is currently serving as chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services. He joined Amazon in 1997 and is extremely popular within the company. Calling him an outstanding leader, Bezos had said that Jassy enjoys his full confidence. “He is going to be a great leader. I know that he has the highest of high standards. He will never let the universe make the company typical. He has all the energy in him that is needed to keep alive in us what is required to make us unique. It is definitely not going to be easy but Jassy will find it satisfying and oftentimes fun,” Bezos said. Meanwhile, the net income of the company has increased to USD 7.2 billion in the fourth quarter.
