Seven months after announcing he was returning to the C-suite to launch artificial intelligence startup Prometheus, Jeff Bezos is back at the top.
The 62-year-old billionaire told CNBC’s David Faber on Thursday’s “Squawk on the Streets” that being co-CEO alongside co-founder Vic Bajaj is “Type 2 fun.” “It’s really fun to be able to think, “Wow, climbing a mountain was fun” after climbing a mountain.
Bezos said running Prometheus, which works on building AI models for physical tasks, including his current project to help engineers create physical products faster and easier, is the entrepreneur’s first formal operational role since stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021. Bezos co-founded Amazon in 1994 and launched space technology company Blue Origin in 2000. He said he still spends his time working at and advising all three companies.
“It’s tough, but it’s a good struggle,” Bezos said. “The majority of my time is spent on Prometheus. I also spend a lot of time on Blue (Origin). I also spend a lot of time on AI at Amazon. So the common denominator of my time is mostly AI.”
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Prometheus launched with $6.2 billion and on Thursday announced a $12 billion funding round, valuing the company at $41 billion. Mr. Bezos and Mr. Bijaj, an adjunct professor of radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine and serial owner of a life sciences business, “don’t really share responsibility” as co-CEOs, Mr. Bezos added.
“We talk to each other multiple times a day…We’re both really involved in every decision,” he said. “It’s not like, ‘Okay, you’re going to be in charge of half the company and I’m going to be in charge of half the company.'” Hips are tight. We are both jacks of all trades. ”
In some ways, Bezos is bucking the trend by returning to the CEO role. Within the past year, several prominent chief executives have resigned, citing the rise of AI, saying it’s time for another leader to spearhead their company’s transition into a new technology era.
“Given what’s going on with AI, we could have started the next big transformation with AI, but we couldn’t finish it,” former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Dec. 9. “About a year ago, I really started to feel like this was the next run. I started seeing visions of what agent commerce was going to look like, AI shopping. And I started thinking about all the things that were going to happen over the next few years. And that really made a big difference for me. I think now was the right time[to step down].”
Bezos expressed excitement about the “miles and miles” of hard work ahead. “I started working with Vic as an investor in Prometheus at the end of 2019… and when I saw what we were doing, I was so impressed by what was happening and what was possible that I decided I couldn’t sit on the sidelines, I needed to jump in with both feet. That’s why I’m here,” he said.
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