Leadership Change at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Adam Selipsky is stepping down from his role as CEO of Amazon Web Services, with Matt Garman, the current AWS sales chief, set to take over as CEO effective June 3rd. This transition was confirmed by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in an internal memo shared with TechCrunch and published on the company’s blog.
Selipsky, one of the first VPs hired at AWS in 2005, spent 11 years leading sales, marketing, and support before departing to become CEO of Tableau. He returned to Amazon in 2021 to lead AWS. Garman, who joined AWS in 2006 as one of the first product managers, headed the EC2 cloud computing organization before his promotion.
The change in leadership comes amidst reports suggesting Selipsky may have missed opportunities in the field of generative AI, impacting his tenure. AWS reportedly planned to unveil its own generative AI model similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but technical issues delayed the launch. Additionally, AWS passed on opportunities to back leading generative AI startups, Cohere and Anthropic.
Jassy acknowledged Selipsky’s achievements, highlighting his leadership during the pandemic and AWS reaching a $100 billion annual revenue run rate. Despite record-low unit revenue growth in 2023 and major layoffs, AWS maintains its position as the cloud leader with around 31% market share.
AWS remains one of Amazon’s most profitable divisions, generating $9.42 billion in operating income in the most recent fiscal quarter. Jassy also noted that AWS’ generative AI businesses have achieved a combined “multi-billion dollar run rate.”
While Selipsky’s departure marks the end of an era, Garman’s promotion signals continuity in AWS leadership and a commitment to maintaining its market-leading position in the cloud industry.
