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Jeff Bezos To Step Down As Amazon's CEO

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos delivers the keynote address at the Air Force Association's Annual Air in 2018.
Jim Watson
/
AFP via Getty Images
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos delivers the keynote address at the Air Force Association's Annual Air in 2018.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as the company's CEO this summer.

Bezos will become Amazon's executive chairman, handing over the reins to Andy Jassy, the head of Amazon's cloud computing division, the company revealed on Tuesday.

"As much as I still tap dance into the office, I'm excited about this transition," Bezos said in a letter to employees, announcing the end of his 27-year run.

"As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. 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."

Amazon officials are slated to address investors on its quarterly earnings call later on Tuesday, when the company is expected to report record holiday earnings.

Tuesday's announcement also came on the same day as news that Amazon would pay over $61.7 million to settle the Federal Trade Commission's charges that the company withheld some tips of its Flex delivery drivers' over two and a half years. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Editor's note: Amazon is among NPR's recent financial supporters.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Alina Selyukh is a business correspondent at NPR, where she follows the path of the retail and tech industries, tracking how America's biggest companies are influencing the way we spend our time, money, and energy.
Shannon Bond is a business correspondent at NPR, covering technology and how Silicon Valley's biggest companies are transforming how we live, work and communicate.
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