Jeff Bezos Step Down As Amazon CEO; How Tech Giants CEOs Reacted To His Exit

• Jeff Bezos on Tuesday announced that he will step down as Chief Executive Officer of Amazon after 27 years.
• Andy Jassy (CEO of AWS) will take away the CEO position in the company in the third quarter.
• Many tech giants' CEO conveyed their best wishes to Jeff Bezos for Day 1 and Earth Fund.

World's richest person Jeff Bezos, on Tuesday, announced that he will step down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Amazon, leaving the helm of the company he founded 27 years ago.

With this, Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon Web Services) will take away the CEO position in the company in the third quarter of this year. Further, Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of executive chair in the third quarter of this year, which starts July 1, the company stated. 

In a letter to his employees, Bezos said, "As Executive Chairman I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions."

Jeff Bezos decided to step down at a time when Amazon's market value is about to touch $1.7 trillion, making it the world's third most valued technology company after Microsoft and Apple.

Bezos first crossed the $100 billion mark in late 2017, even after giving up a quarter of his Amazon stake to his ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, he managed to be at the top in the richest persons list, currently, Jeff Bezos net worth stood at somewhere around $197 billion.

Besides Jeff Bezos, Several other major tech CEOs have stepped down from the CEO position. Earlier in September 2019, Jack Ma stepped down as Alibaba's chairman.

"I will reiterate is not leaving," Brian Olsavsky, the chief financial officer of Amazon, told investors on Tuesday. "He's going to be executive chairman, super important role, super active in the Amazon success story."

Jeff built Amazon in 1994 as an online book store and today Amazon is the world's largest e-commerce company having a whopping market share compared to other similar companies.

Reacting to Bezos exit, many tech companies CEOs have wished him for the day 1 and Earth Fund.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella conveyed best wished to Jeff Bezos and called Jassy as a well-deserved recognition.

While Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai too wished Bezos for his charitable activities --- Day 1 and Bezos Earth Fund.

San-Francisco-based Cloud-based software company Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff conveyed best wishes and said 'Amazon could not be in better hands'.

Besides Marc, Salesforce President and COO Bret Taylor also wished to Bezos and said 'I have long been an admirer of Andy Jassy. Amazon will be in great hands.'

Box chief executive Aaron Levie said that Bezos created the blueprint for building internet businesses, being hyper customer-centric, and scaling disruptive innovation.

WeWork Chairman Marcelo Claure welcomed Jeff Bezos to the ExecutiveChairman club and said 'This is when the real fun begins'.

Fable founder and former CISCO Chief Technology and Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior wished Jassy and said 'Well deserved step-up to lead Amazon'.

Apart from the CEOs, Investors also wished Jeff Bezos for Day 1 and Bezos Earth Fund.

Bill Gurley, General Partner at Benchmark CFA, shared throwback image with Jeff Bezos in the initial years of Amazon.com. He said, No idea I was about to witness the most spectacular CEO run of my lifetime. Unquestionably the most strategic business thinker I have ever met. Also uniquely able to turn those strategies into processes that scale. Undisputed GOAT."

Martin Varsavsky founder of Prelude Fertility said 'Bezos Wants a life, Good for him'.

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