Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down on July 5, turning the helm over to cloud-computing boss Andy Jassy.
“We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” Bezos said Wednesday at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually.
Amazon announced in Feb, that Bezos would leave his post later this year. Bezos will transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board and is expected to dedicate more time toward initiatives like the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
Bezos began his career in the hedge fund world in the 1990s, then left a cushy job to launch his own startup that didn’t turn a profit for years.
Jeff Bezos in his open letter to public (Amazon annual shareholder letter) describes his vision. Here’s an extract from his letter.
“From very early on in Amazon’s life, we knew we wanted to create a culture of builders – people who are curious, explorers. They like to invent. Even when they’re experts, they are “fresh” with a beginner’s mind. They see the way we do things as just the way we do things now. A builder’s mentality helps us approach big, hard-to-solve opportunities with a humble conviction that success can come through iteration: invent, launch, reinvent, relaunch, start over, rinse, repeat, again and again. They know the path to success is anything but straight. It’s critical to ask customers what they want, listen carefully to their answers, and figure out a plan to provide it thoughtfully and quickly (speed matters in business!). No business could thrive without that kind of customer obsession. But it’s also not enough. The biggest needle movers will be things that customers don’t know to ask for. We must invent on their behalf. We have to tap into our own inner imagination about what’s possible.”
And it’s all about vision – even when the company was making no money, he continued with his vision… and never gave up.
So whilst he isn’t exactly leaving Amazon, he’s only stepping down as the CEO, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about his space ventures, however for the moment – this should be some Monday Motivation for many of us. Never give up.