Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO, Andy Jassy, is set to replace Jeff Bezos as the boss of Amazon later this year.
Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994, will become Executive Chairman and remain involved in high-level strategic decisions at the online giant.
Jassy has been at Amazon since 1997 and was instrumental in the inception of AWS in the early noughties before its launch in 2006. Prior to this, he had been Bezos’ Chief of Staff.
“In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives,” Bezos said in an open email to staff.
“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”
The announcement came as Amazon revealed sales had rocketed in its Q4 – up 44 per cent year on year to $125.6bn. This is the first time Amazon has broken the $100bn in a single quarter.
AWS continues to be the main profit generator, with the cloud computing arm accounting for just 10 per cent of Amazon’s sales ($12.7bn) but 51 per cent of operating income ($3.6bn). Year-on-year growth for AWS in Q4 stood at 28 per cent.
Bezos said that his new role as Executive Chairman will give him more time to focus on other interests, including his space travel company Blue Origin and The Washington Post, which be acquired in 2013.
“Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future,” he added. “We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to.
“We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish”
“We serve individuals and enterprises, and we’ve pioneered two complete industries and a whole new class of devices. We are leaders in areas as varied as machine learning and logistics, and if an Amazonian’s idea requires yet another new institutional skill, we’re flexible enough and patient enough to learn it.”
CPaaS has become an increasing focus for AWS over recent months, with VP of Business Applications, Larry Augustin, telling UC Today that a number of huge software companies are using its Chime SDK to deliver services.
AWS also recently tightened its relationship with Zoom.
Meanwhile Amazon has launched a feature for Alexa that lets two people communicate via different languages, with AI translating for each participant.
