Kyle WiggersAdam Selipsky is stepping down from his position as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS). In a message to Amazon employees, CEO Andy Jassy announced that Matt Garman, the head of AWS’ EC2 cloud computing organization, will succeed Selipsky as the new CEO, effective June 3rd. Selipsky, who originally joined AWS in 2005 and returned to lead the company in 2021, will be taking a break to spend time with his family and reflect on future opportunities. Despite Selipsky’s departure, Jassy praised his leadership, acknowledging that he had steered AWS to achieve a $100 billion annual revenue and made customer efficiency a priority, even at the expense of short-term revenue.
There were some technical setbacks during Selipsky’s tenure, including delays in launching a generative AI model and missed investment opportunities with leading generative AI startups, Cohere and Anthropic. Additionally, AWS experienced a slowdown in unit revenue growth and had to undergo significant layoffs. However, AWS continues to lead the cloud market with around 31% market share and remains one of Amazon’s most profitable business divisions. In the most recent fiscal quarter, AWS generated $9.42 billion in operating income, accounting for approximately 62% of Amazon’s total. Jassy also mentioned that AWS’ generative AI businesses have achieved a combined “multi-billion dollar run rate.”
Kyle Wiggers
