Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has picked a date to step down as CEO. Bezos, who grew Amazon from an internet bookstore to an online shopping behemoth, said Wednesday that Amazon executive Andy Jassy will take over the CEO role on July 5.
“We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me,” Bezos said during an Amazon shareholder meeting Wednesday. He explained that it was exactly 27 years ago on that date in 1994 that Amazon was incorporated.
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. announced that Bezos was stepping down as CEO in February, but didn’t provide a specific date. Jassy, his replacement, currently runs the company’s cloud-computing business.
Bezos, 57 and with a personal fortune of $167 billion, won’t be going far. He will become executive chair at Amazon and focus on new products and initiatives. He also plans to focus on his other ventures, such as his rocket ship company, Blue Origin, and his newspaper, The Washington Post. On Wednesday, Amazon also announced it would buy storied Hollywood studio MGM for $8.45 billion with the hopes of filling its video streaming service with more shows and movies to watch.
He also congratulated Jassy on the promotion and said, “he will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.” Jassy, who has kept a lower profile than Bezos, is a Harvard Business School graduate and joined Amazon in 1997. As the current CEO of Amazon Web Services, he is widely credited with boosting the unit to incredible heights.