Amazon announced AWS CEO Andy Jassy will replace Jeff Bezos as CEO during the third quarter of this year. Bezos will transition to executive chair of Amazon's board.

Bezos said that in his new executive chair role he will focus his energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.

 Jassy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as Bezos.

“He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence. This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, "What's the internet?" Blessedly, I haven't had to explain that in a long while. “

Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and built it into one of the largest companies in the world, amassing a fortune of $185 billion. Amazon, which started as an online bookseller, is now a dominant force in cloud computing, groceries, electronics and entertainment, and employs more than 1.3 million people.

“Amazon is what it is because of invention”, said Bezos. “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.

“Right now, I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”

Bezos has stepped back from the day-to-day running of Amazon in recent years to pay more attention to his other interests, including space exploration and his ownership of the Washington Post. But his departure as chief executive was unexpected.

Jassy, 52, has long been seen as Bezos’s heir apparent, vying with Jeff Wilke, who ran Amazon’s retail business until he announced plans to retire last year.