In a surprise announcement Tuesday, Amazon confirmed that Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as CEO.

Bezos will still have a major role at Amazon as executive chairman of the board. An exact date for the change has not been given.

Fox News reports:

Andy Jassy, currently the CEO of Amazon’s highly profitable cloud computing wing, will replace Bezos as CEO. He started in Amazon’s marketing department in 1997.

Bezos touted Amazon’s innovations in a statement detailing the reason for his exit.

“Amazon is what it is because of invention. We do crazy things together and then make them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more,” Bezos said.

“If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn,” he added. “That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive. When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”

With a net worth of $196.5 billion, Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man. Bezos is also the founder of Blue Origin which is a private space exploration firm. We can only imagine what he will do now that he will have more time to pursue other ventures.

Click here for full story.