Filenews 3 February 2021
Amazon.com Inc. announced today that its founder and CHIEF EXECUTIVE, Jeff Bezos, will soon take over as executive chairman, handing over the CEO position to Andy Jassy, who heads the U.S. giant's cloud computing business.
Changes in the company's leadership will be made in the third quarter of 2021, the company announced.
The surprise announcement of administrative changes at Amazon came as the US giant recorded record sales for the fourth quarter, as the pandemic continued to fuel the rapid growth of online shopping by home-grown consumers.
In particular, the e-commerce giant announced that sales amounted to $125.5 billion in the fourth quarter, while net profit was $7.2 billion . This is the first time Amazon has surpassed the $100 billion level.
The boom in online shopping amid the pandemic has driven the company's sales to record numbers this year, as the e-commerce industry has grown by about 50% in the last year, according to some analysts. About 40% of online purchases in the U.S. are made through Amazon, according to research firm eMarketer.
For 2020, Amazon's sales rose 37% year-on-year to $380.06 billion. The company also announced today that it expects its sales in the current quarter to be between $100 billion and $106 billion, against Wall Street analysts' estimate of about $95.8 billion.
Source: Capital.gr
