London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Jeff Bezos responds to employee question about his resignation as CEO, says Amazon can 'out-survive any individual in the company, including, of course, myself'

Jeff Bezos responds to employee question about his resignation as CEO, says Amazon can 'out-survive any individual in the company, including, of course, myself'

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reassured employees on Tuesday that his resignation would not end up hurting Amazon's culture or internal framework.
Jeff Bezos wants Amazon employees to know that he's not leaving the company when he steps down as CEO later this year — and that the retailer's culture is built to outlast any individual departures, including his own.

At an internal, all-staff meeting on Tuesday, which was reviewed by Insider, Bezos reiterated that he would be involved in product development work in his new role as executive chairman, which he will move into in the third quarter of 2021. Though it's a message that he shared in his February announcement, Bezos made clear again during the meeting that his passion for invention is what drove the decision to take his new position.

"The heart of what gets me up in the morning is invention — I'm an inventor at heart," Bezos said during the meeting, which was held virtually due to the pandemic. "And so I'm going to spend time as Amazon's executive chair in that role, helping with new product initiatives, helping other people inside the company own their invention skills."

Amazon holds these all-staff meetings, which are broadcast to most of the company's 1.3 million employees worldwide, only twice per year. This meeting is likely Bezos's last as CEO.

On the surface, Bezos's new role is not too different from what he's been doing the last several years. As Amazon grew into a massive company involved in all types of businesses, Bezos started spending less time on the day-to-day operations in recent years, focusing on more long-term projects, like secretive hardware initiatives and his space company Blue Origin.

But with the pandemic disrupting Amazon's supply chain and increased public scrutiny over its business practices, Bezos had returned to a more engaged role over the past year, often directly overseeing the company's response, as Insider previously reported.

The new executive chairman role will allow Bezos to hand off the most onerous parts of being Amazon's CEO, such as testifying before Congress in response to antitrust allegations, while still having fun as part of the company's most interesting projects. Andy Jassy, the CEO of the Amazon Web Services cloud business, will take over Bezos's job in the third quarter.

During Tuesday's meeting, Bezos also reassured employees that his resignation will not end up hurting Amazon's culture and internal framework. He said Amazon's famous leadership principles, which is used internally to drive almost every key decision, and a "deep leadership team" in place will continue to keep the company growing, even after he ultimately leaves.

"We've been working for decades to build a lasting company, one that can out-survive any individual in the company, including, of course, myself," Bezos said. "We have a culture and a set of principles which can guide us ... When we stick to these things, this company has a long, long runway."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×