Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos officially stepped down from his position on Monday and handed over to the immediate Chief of Amazon’s cloud computing services Andy Jassy. The 57-year-old Mogul will henceforth shift his focus to “new products and early initiatives” as he handles a number of personal projects.
One of the immediate projects Bezos will devote his time to is the launch of his private spaceflight company, Blue Origin. Bezos said the transition will give him time to focus on “the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions.”
Bezos will transition to the role of executive chair of Amazon at a time when its market value is at about $1.7 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world.
“The chairman’s role is to keep the chief executive in order, so Bezos will still be engrained in the business and be able to provide guidance on a range of strategic issues.” Russ Mould, an investment director, said.
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“He is also a major shareholder which gives him considerable influence on how the business is run.”
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore. It has since transitioned into one of the biggest companies in the world venturing out into movie production, making sofas, owning grocery chains with plans to send satellites into space to beam the internet onto the earth.
Bezos is the second richest person in the world, after being edged out of the top spot by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He has a net worth of about $197 billion.
In 2019, Bezos divorced his wife MacKenzie Scott who he married in 1993 after the national enquirer published a cover story saying the Amazon founder had an affair with a TV host. Scott got a four percent stake in the company, worth about $40 billion at the time, and has committed to giving out half of her fortunes to charities.
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