Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy sent a memo to employees Tuesday night after news broke that he would replace Jeff Bezos as Amazon's CEO later this year.
The New York Times journalist Kara Swisher obtained the memo and shared it on Twitter late Tuesday.
"It's hard to overstate how much I've learned from Jeff over the past 24 years," Jassy wrote in the memo. He cited "how much I obsess over customers" as well as "the importance of inventing and looking around corners," "hiring and developing great people," and "the value of high standards and consistently speedy, outstanding delivery."
Bezos' mantra of "customer obsession" is widely quoted at Amazon.
Jassy talked about Amazon's cloud business, Amazon Web Services, the division he has headed up and built since he joined the company in 1997.
"With the meat of enterprise and public sector adoption starting to happen now, we have a chance to build a very unusual, long-term business," Jassy wrote.
"One of the amazing things about AWS and Amazon is that we're still such a small overall share of the market segments in which we address. It's still very early days," he added.
AWS was the top cloud provider in the fourth quarter of 2020, commanding 31% of the market and totaling more than the next two biggest cloud providers combined, according to data from the analytics firm Canalys.
Jassy said nothing would change for AWS in the short term and did not name who would replace him as the division's CEO. "We have plenty of time to determine in the coming weeks who will lead the AWS business when I assume the new role," he said.
Here's the full text of the memo:
Hey Team. I'm assuming most of you saw the news from Jeffb today that he'll be transitioning to Executive Chairman in Q3, and that I will move into the role of CEO of Amazon at that time.
I'm excited for Jeff and look forward to watching his next chapter unfold. Seems a pretty good bet that it'll be something special. It's hard to overstate how much I've learned from Jeff over the past 24 years — from how much I obsess over customers, to the importance of inventing and looking around corners, to the criticality of hiring and developing great people, to the value of high standards and consistently speedy, outstanding delivery. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead Amazon, and excited about what the future holds for the Company.
I'm also excited about what the future holds for AWS. Like the rest of Amazon, AWS is in a very good spot. At a $51B revenue run rate, growing 28% YoY [year on year], and with the meat of enterprise and public sector adoption starting to happen now, we have a chance to build a very unusual, long-term business. And more importantly, we continue to help millions of new and existing customers not only transform their own companies, but also entire industries. One of the amazing things about AWS and Amazon is that we're still such a small overall share of the market segments in which we address. It's still very early days.
Nothing is changing in the short term as it relates to AWS. You'll be stuck with me until Q3; and even after that I will always be passionate and connected to AWS. We have plenty of time to determine in the coming weeks who will lead the AWS business when I assume the new role. We will share those details in the future. We have unusual leadership depth in AWS that, along with all of you, are the heart of the business — and that doesn't change. In the meantime, stay giddied up — we have so many customers needing our help to transform and accomplish what they're trying to do. We won't be bored any time soon :-).
Andy
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