NEW YORK, NY
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down on July 5, handover the top job to Andy Jassy, who currently runs Amazon Web Services (AWS).
“We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in July 5, 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” Bezos said Wednesday at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually.
Amazon first announced the change in leadership in its February earnings report, but no date had been given.
Bezos said in February that he wanted more time to focus on his personal ventures such as climate change organization Bezos Earth Fund and aerospace company Blue Origin.
After founding Amazon from his garage as an online marketplace for books, Bezos quickly expanded the company to other sectors of consumer products. In 2015, the firm surpassed Walmart as the United States’ most valuable retailer by market capitalization.
Amazon acquired supermarket chain Whole Foods for $13.4 billion in 2017 – its biggest acquisition in company history – and Wednesday it announced it has agreed to acquire US media company MGM for $8.45 billion.
Research and analytics firm S&P Global said on Wednesday that Amazon may buy more movie studios in the coming months from the pandemic-hit film industry, as the purchase of MGM “could be part of a bigger push by the e-commerce company to buy up other movie studios to further bolster its streaming library.”
As the streaming business has grown more competitive during pandemic lockdowns, the company’s paid subscription program Amazon Prime has worked to boost content to stay in the race with AT&T, Walt Disney, and Netflix.
