Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will officially step down as chief executive on July 5, passing the telehealth torch to incoming CEO Andy Jassy, according to a May 26 article by CNN.
Five details:
- Mr. Bezos said in the company's shareholder meeting on May 26 that the date was "sentimental" and he chose July 5 because it was the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994.
- In a Feb. 2 letter to Amazon employees, Mr. Bezos announced he will transition to the executive chair of Amazon's board in the third quarter of 2021.
- Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy will replace Mr. Bezos as Amazon CEO at that time. Mr. Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 and has headed up its cloud division since its inception.
- Mr. Bezos will leave Amazon Care, Amazon's telehealth venture, for Mr. Jassy to manage, among several others.
- "None of these ideas are guaranteed to work," Mr. Bezos said. "All of them are gigantic investments and they're all risks. ... Our whole history as a company is about taking risks, many of which have failed and many of which will fail, but we'll continue to take big risks."