THE FOUNDER OF Amazon Jeff Bezos has said he will step down from the position of CEO later this year.

Bezos, who has become the world’s richest person based on his stake in Amazon, said he will transition to the role of executive chair in the third quarter to hand over the CEO role to Andy Jassy.

Jassy currently heads Amazon Web Services. 

The announcement came as the tech and e-commerce company reported a successful previous quarter with profits more than doubling to $7.2 billion (€5.98 billion) and revenue jumping 44% to $125.6 billion (€104 billion).

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

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

Bezos said this evening he would “stay engaged” in major Amazon initiatives. 

Jassy joined Amazon as a marketing manager in 1997 and in 2003 founded AWS, the web division of the company which has been one of the most profitable but least-known units of the tech giant.