Jeff Bezos Is Stepping Down As CEO Of Amazon

Jeff Bezos has announced he will be stepping down as CEO of Amazon.

He will move down a rank to executive chair in a move he said will give him more time to focus on his other projects.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy will take over as Amazon's CEO.

Bezos said in a letter to employees: "In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence."

Bezos founded Amazon all the way back in 1994 and he's served as the leader for 27 years.

He's acknowledged that a lot has changed since the company first started compared to the juggernaut it's known today.

"Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one of the most successful companies in the world," he said in his letter.

"Invention is the root of our success. We've done crazy things together, and then made them normal.

"We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime's insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more.

"If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.

"I don't know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazon's, and I believe we are at our most inventive right now. I hope you are as proud of our inventiveness as I am. I think you should be."

Bezos says he's 'excited' about this new direction in his life and hopes he's able to commit more energy into the things that interest him.

"I've never had more energy, and this isn't about retiring. I'm super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have," he added.