Jeff Bezos will step down as Amazon CEO in 2 weeks on July 5, a 'sentimental' date he picked because it was when the company was incorporated in 1994
Paul Souders/Getty Images
- Jeff Bezos will officially leave his job as Amazon CEO two weeks from today on July 5.
- Bezos told shareholders the date was "sentimental" because it's when Amazon was first incorporated.
- Bezos said that as Amazon's executive chair he would focus on "new products and early initiatives."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Jeff Bezos officially steps down from his job as CEO of Amazon in two weeks, on July 5.
"We chose that date because it's sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago," Bezos said in his last shareholder meeting as Amazon's CEO.
Bezos announced in February that he would leave his CEO post in the third quarter.
Taking over is Andy Jassy, the head of Amazon's cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services. Jassy has been at the company for 24 years.
Jassy "is going to be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence," Bezos said.
"He has the highest of high standards, and I guarantee that Andy will never let the universe make us typical," Bezos added. "He has the energy needed to keep alive in us what has made us special."
Bezos is not leaving Amazon altogether – he'll become the executive chair of the company.
"I'm very excited to move into the chair role, where I will focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives," Bezos said.
Amazon said in February that Bezos' involvement in the company's operations as the executive chair would consist of "one-way door" decisions. Amazon's chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, characterized these as big decisions such as acquisitions and overarching business strategies.