Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO, names Andy as new chief executive

San Francisco: Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday announced his decision to step down as the CEO of the e-commerce giant to focus more on innovations.

Bezos names Andy Jassy, the current CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), as his successor.

Andy will take over as the CEO of the e-commerce giant on July 5.

Bezos said he chose the date July 5 as "It's the date that Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago".

Dave Lee, a correspondent with the Financial Times who covers Amazon, late on Wednesday tweeted the remarks by Bezos made to reporters.

"Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He's going to be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence," Bezos said.

"He has the highest of high standards, and I guarantee that Andy will never let the universe make us typical," he added.

It is estimated that about half of the company's revenue comes from AWS, which is the Cloud arm of Amazon led by Jessy since it was founded in 2003. He was named the CEO of the Cloud arm in 2016.

AWS has logged a $54 billion annualised run rate -- a 32 per cent year-over-year growth -- in the March quarter this year.

Amazon has appointed Salesforce executive Adam Selipsky as the new AWS.