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How Bezos will continue to guide Amazon after stepping down

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced he is resigning as CEO and will transition into the role of 鈥漞xecutive chairman.鈥� Long-time Amazon executive Andy Jassy will take over the reins but Mr. Bezos is still expected to have a hand in key operational decisions.

First Look

Even after stepping aside as CEO, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos appears likely to keep identifying new frontiers for the world鈥檚 dominant e-commerce company. His successor, meanwhile, gets to deal with escalating efforts to curtail its power.

Tuesday鈥檚 announcement that Mr. Bezos will hand off the CEO job this summer came as a surprise. But it doesn鈥檛 mean Amazon is losing the visionary who turned an online bookstore founded in 1995 into a behemoth worth $1.7 trillion that sometimes seems to do a little bit of everything.

Mr. Bezos has never let Amazon rest on its laurels. In the last year alone, it bought a company developing self-driving taxis; launched an online pharmacy selling inhalers and insulin; and won government approval to put more than 3,200 satellites into space to beam internet service to Earth.

Long-time Amazon executive Andy Jassy will be the new CEO, but Mr. Bezos will be the company鈥檚 executive chairman 鈥� corporate-speak for board leaders who, unlike most, stay involved in key operational decisions. Think Robert Iger at Disney, Howard Schultz at Starbucks, or Eric Schmidt at Google after handing off the reins a decade ago.

鈥淛eff Bezos has held a firm grip on the company for a long time,鈥� said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a retail research firm. 鈥淚 have to believe he will have a say in what is going on and have a big hand in big picture decisions.鈥�

Amazon鈥檚 chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, made the move sound like a mere shuffling of chairs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more of a restructuring of who鈥檚 doing what,鈥� he said during a Tuesday call with reporters.

Investors didn鈥檛 bail after hearing about Amazon鈥檚 forthcoming change in command, and instead focused on the company鈥檚 blockbuster earnings, which it also announced Tuesday. Amazon鈥檚 stock edged up slightly in Tuesday鈥檚 extended trading 鈥� not something that tends to happen when Wall Street is worried about a management shake-up.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he鈥檚 going to be completely hands off,鈥� CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi said of Mr. Bezos.

In a blog post, Mr. Bezos said the CEO job had pulled him away from exploring new ideas and initiatives that could yield growth opportunities. He now intends to focus more on such innovation, along with other ventures such as his rocket ship company Blue Origin and his newspaper, The Washington Post.

鈥淏eing the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it鈥檚 consuming,鈥� Mr. Bezos wrote. 鈥淲hen you have a responsibility like that, it鈥檚 hard to put attention on anything else.鈥�

The shift will saddle Mr. Jassy with some of the responsibilities that Mr. Bezos clearly didn鈥檛 enjoy. Perhaps the most daunting is the increasing scrutiny of Amazon鈥檚 clout in an online shopping market that has become even more essential to consumers during the past year鈥檚 pandemic.

The United States government already has slapped two other technology powerhouses, Google and Facebook, with antitrust lawsuits. Both regulators and lawmakers have left little doubt that they are taking a hard look at whether similar action is warranted against Amazon and Apple.

Mr. Jassy will likely have to ward off the antitrust threat while also trying to forge his own legacy. A revered company founder can cast a long shadow.

鈥淎mazon鈥檚 size makes some industries uncomfortable, some governments uncomfortable and Andy Jassy will have to deal with the consequences,鈥� Gartner analyst Ed Anderson said. 鈥淭hat will be some of the new era of his leadership.鈥�

Mr. Jassy also may face pressure from critics who believe Amazon鈥檚 success has been built in part by mistreating many of its 1.3 million employees, especially those in the distribution warehouses and delivery trucks who are paid far less than the tech engineers while also facing more hazardous conditions.

鈥淛eff Bezos鈥� departure as CEO is a chance for Amazon to turn over a new leaf,鈥� said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, an activist group that in Washington. 鈥淚t should start by paying all its workers a living wage and ensuring they have safe and healthy working conditions.鈥�

Analysts said Mr. Bezos appears to have picked a successor who鈥檚 up for the challenge. Mr. Jassy is highly respected for building up Amazon鈥檚 web services division, which runs many of the world鈥檚 biggest websites. Earnings from that cloud-computing service also helped subsidize the company鈥檚 online shopping operations as it cut prices so low that it lost money for many years.

鈥淗e鈥檚 proven himself in building the most profitable part of the company,鈥� Mr. Amobi said. 鈥淗is challenge is translating that to the broader e-commerce platform.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Mae Anderson, Anne D鈥橧nnocenzio, Marcy Gordon, and Matt O鈥橞rien contributed to this story.