As coronavirus drove record on line buying and widened the divide between the industry haves and have-nots, e-trade large Amazon AMZN -zero.4% on Tuesday suggested vacation fourth-quarter sales jumped forty four% to a file $one hundred twenty five.6 billion. 

The business enterprise also stated founder Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO inside the third region to grow to be executive chair of its board. Andy Jassy, a 23-year enterprise veteran who leads Amazon’s income crown jewel AWS cloud carrier, will take over as CEO, Amazon said. 

However, don’t anticipate this to sign Bezos gained’t have a huge say at Amazon. In an e mail to employees Tuesday, Bezos stated stepping down as CEO will loose him to attention on “vital Amazon initiatives.” He pointed to Amazon’s “invention” of services and capabilities such as “insanely fast delivery” eligible for its high loyalty contributors and Alexa voice assistant which have grow to be the brand new regular clients take as a right.

“Jeff is not leaving,” Amazon’s chief monetary Officer Brian Olsavsky said on a conference call with analysts, adding Bezos can be concerned with “a lot of one-manner door” decisions along with Amazon’s grocery initiative and acquisitions. “It’s a first-rate critical function.”

Here are other takeaways:

Amazon’s fourth-zone earnings more than doubled in a sea of struggling retailers. As main U.S. Chains introduced file keep closings and 60-plus bankruptcies in 2020, Amazon’s internet profits extra than doubled to $7.2 billion after operating income in North the usa, 60% of its income, jumped 55% while distant places markets, 30% of its total, swung to a make the most of a 12 months-in advance loss.