Jeff Bezos could come back to lead Amazon again

Jeff Bezos could return as the Chief Executive of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) this year, says Michael Batnick. He’s the Director of Research at Ritholtz Wealth Management.

Amazon stock has underperformed big time

Shares of the tech behemoth ended last year down about 50%. Explaining why that’s significant for Amazon’s billionaire founder, Batnick said on CNBC’s “TechCheck”:

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Bezos got a lot less rich last year because Amazon is struggling. His net worth went from over $200 billion to just over a $100 billion. I think $100 billion is the line in the sand. So, it’s possible that he returns to the helm to steady the ship.

It is also noteworthy that such a move will not be the first of its kind. Prominent names like Starbucks and more recently, the Walt Disney Co has brought back its former CEO to put the company back on track.

All in all, Amazon stock has lost roughly $840 billion in market cap over the past twelve months.

Is it entirely the current CEO Andy Jassy’s fault?

Jeff Bezos has remained with Amazon as its Executive Chairman after stepping down as the CEO in July of last year. Batnick did not attribute the hit to share price entirely to Andy Jassy (Current Chief Executive) but said:

While this is all certainly not Jassy’s fault; a lot of the decisions that were put in place were there when Bezos was at the helm, there’s some finger points that will go on next year, if not already.

In its latest reported quarter, the multinational was a bit shy of how much the analysts expected it will generate in revenue as Invezz reported here.

Still, Wall Street remains convinced in its long-term potential and continues to recommend buying Amazon stock at the current discount.