From the Washington Post:
"There are few chief executives more identified with the companies they run than Jeff Bezos.
"But the 56-year-old Amazon founder, and the world’s wealthiest person, will one day need to pass on the reins of the e-commerce giant. And an heir apparent has emerged in recent weeks: Andy Jassy, the 52-year-old head of Amazon Web Services, or AWS, the company’s cloud computing business, who was one of two No. 2s in Amazon’s corner offices.
"The likelihood of Jassy’s being Bezos’s successor increased when the other deputy, Jeff Wilke, who ran Amazon’s retail business, last month unexpectedly announced plans to retire early next year. Wilke, 53, and Jassy shared a spot in the corporate hierarchy and were both seen to be groomed for the top job, according to current and former executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter.
"To most, Amazon is known as a massive online marketplace where they can buy books, housewares, televisions and more. But Jassy’s Amazon career is defined by his leading Amazon into a wholly new market, cloud computing, a business the company has come to dominate just as aggressively as it leads in the world of e-commerce. And the fact that Jassy is now most likely to succeed Bezos offers insight into Amazon: that the company still values high-risk, high-reward bets and is less defined by online shopping than some might think."
You can read the story here.
- KC's View:
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The only thing I don't get about this admittedly entirely speculative story is how a 56 year old white guy would be looking at a 52 year old white guy as a possible replacement. Maybe if Bezos gets hit tomorrow by a bus, or by a falling space satellite. Bbut it seems to me that if Bezos is planning to stick around for another decade or more - and there's no evidence that he's thinking otherwise - then I think it is at least possible that thew net has to be cast wider and more inclusively.
