Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) said late Tuesday that founder, Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos will relinquish the CEO role during the third quarter of 2021 and will be succeeded by Andrew R. Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud-computing unit.
Bezos, 57, will transition into the role of executive chair of the company he started in 1994, Seattle-based Amazon said.
The momentous C-suite shift at the world’s largest e-tailer comes as it reported fourth-quarter sales of $125 billion, a mind-boggling figure and 42% above the year-earlier totals, excluding a $1.7 billion benefit from favorable foreign-exchange rates. Operating income rose to $6.9 billion, $3 billion more than in the 2019 period. Net income more than doubled to $7.2 billion, or $14.09 per diluted share. Amazon crushed analysts’ consensus EPS estimates by $6.96.
Bezos said in a statement disclosing the financial results that now is the right time to announce the transition with Amazon at its inventive peak. “Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal,” he said.
After ticking off the company’s numerous initiatives, Bezos said that “if you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention.”
Full-year revenue rose 38% to $386.1 billion. Operating income increased to $22.9 billion from $14.5 billion in 2019. Net income nearly doubled to $21.3 billion, or $41.83 per diluted share.
Fourth-quarter shipping costs hit nearly $21.5 billion, about $9 billion more than in the 2019 period. For all of 2020, Amazon spent more than $61 billion on shipping alone as the COVID-19 pandemic drove massive e-commerce spikes and equally strong demand for fulfillment and delivery.
Amazon’s shares, which rose more than 1% during the regular trading session, were down about .52% in after-hours trading Tuesday.