Source: Zhitong Finance
Author: Lee Kyun-hyun

On Tuesday local time, Amazon announced an important personnel change. Matt Garman (Matt Garman), the new head of the cloud business division, will take over a business with an annual output value of up to 100 billion US dollars. Garman's challenge is to maintain a leading position in cloud computing in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). As a senior engineering leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Garman previously worked as a sales executive, and he will replace the outgoing Adam Selipsky (Adam Selipsky) next month.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (Andy Jassy) announced in an internal email on Tuesday that Selipsky, who has led AWS since 2021, will leave his job on June 3 to meet new challenges.

According to information, AWS, as the world's largest cloud computing service provider, has always contributed most of Amazon's revenue and provided financial support for the company's large-scale investments in other fields.

However, AWS has experienced some difficulties over the past two years. The growth rate of the cloud sector fell to a record low as companies began cutting technology spending after spending increased during the pandemic. Last year, AWS experienced the largest layoffs in history, and the layoffs continue, even though the department is still hiring in specific areas.

At the same time, in terms of commercialization of next-generation AI services, AWS also lags behind competitors such as Microsoft (MSFT.US) and Google (GOOGL.US). Some customers weren't happy with AWS's early AI products. To catch up, AWS invested $4 billion in Anthropic, a well-known manufacturer of generative AI tools. AWS is also developing its own tools to compete with ChatGPT and is partnering with other companies to support AI services through their servers.

Although Microsoft and Google are currently seen as leaders in the field of generative AI, Amazon is expected to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue from AI-related businesses over the next few years.

Amazon AWS leadership changes and future prospects

Corey Quinn (Corey Quinn), chief cloud economist at consulting firm Duckbill Group, commented that as CEO, Selipsky is ultimately responsible for the progress of AWS in the AI field, and the current results are not ideal.

In a letter to employees, Selipsky said that he will use the opportunity of leaving his job to spend more time with his family and create a space of spiritual freedom to reflect and consider various future possibilities. An AWS spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

Selipsky was once Jassie's effective assistant. In the early days of the establishment of AWS, he held a position similar to Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for leading sales and marketing positions. He left Amazon in 2016 to run Tableau, a Seattle-based manufacturer of data visualization tools that was later acquired by Salesforce (CRM.US). Three years ago, Selipsky returned to Amazon. This move surprised many AWS employees. They had expected Garman to get this position.

Garman has been working for the company since his internship at Amazon in 2005, when he was still studying at Northwestern University Business School. The following year, he joined Amazon full time and helped launch some of the first AWS products. He continues to lead the engineering team responsible for Amazon's on-demand computing power services and began leading the AWS sales and marketing team in 2020, which shows that he is preparing for the top position.

People who have worked with Garman describe him as a detail-oriented engineering manager who shows confidence and humility when dealing with clients or entering new markets. Like many of Amazon's top executives, Garman isn't considered a great public speaker or helpful person. At the conference, he challenged the product team's assumptions and delved into specific data points.

Jasi commented on Garman, saying, “He has excellent skills and experience to take on his new role.” Garman said he will announce organizational changes in the next few weeks. One such change is that Amazon's sustainability team, which previously reported to Selipsky, will be transferred to the organization of PR director Drew Herdener (Drew Herdener).

Soon after Garman joined AWS, a business school friend working in another division of Amazon asked him about AWS. At the time, AWS was just an unconventional bet for an online retailer.

Garman replied that he thinks AWS will one day become a $1 billion business. He said in 2019 that his friends were skeptical. However, almost ten years after that conversation, AWS's annual sales are expected to reach nearly $8 billion. “We think this will take longer,” Garman said.

Editor/Jeffy