Jeff Bezos has announced that he is stepping down as CEO of the company. He will be replaced by his longtime colleague, Andy Jassy.
However, Bezos, 57, isn’t leaving Amazon. He will transition from his position as CEO to the position of Amazon’s Executive Chair in the third quarter of 2021. In that position, he will focus on developing new products and initiatives for the company.
The Amazon founder announced his decision to step down as CEO in an email to staff on Tuesday.
Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott founded Amazon in 1994. The company quickly grew to become the single largest online retailer in the world and one of the most successful companies in the world.
Amazon currently has a market capitalization of $1.7 trillion.
Bezos’ announcement that he is stepping down as CEO comes after the company declared a 2020 Q4 revenue of more than $100 billion.
Forbes ranks Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world
Forbes ranks Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world, with a net worth of $196.2 billion, and Elon Musk the second richest, with a net worth of $188.3 billion.
However, Monsters and Critics reported in January that Bloomberg claimed that Space X founder and CEO Elon Musk had surpassed Jeff Bezos in net worth to become the world’s richest person.
According to Bloomberg, Musk surpassed Bezos following a 7.9 percent surge in Tesla shares. The surge, according to Bloomberg, boosted the value of Musk’s stock holding to $194.8 billion, compared with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth, estimated at $185.3 billion.
As of January 31, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranked Elon Musk the richest man in the world. with a net worth estimated at $190 billion, while Jeff Bezos was ranked second, with a net worth of $188 billion.
Monsters and Critics also reported in February 2020 that Bezos purchased media mogul David Geffen’s Beverly Hills mansion, the Warner Estate, at a record-setting price of $165 million.
Forbes estimated Bezos’ net worth at the time at $131.2 billion. This means that the world’s richest man gained more than $60 billion in net worth after COVID-19 started.
Who is Andy Jassy?
Andy Jassy is 53 years old. He was born and raised in Westchester County, New York.
According to his LinkedIn page, he obtained his first and second degrees from Harvard.
He graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1990 and from Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) in 1997.
He joined Amazon in 1997.
He previously served as Bezos’ technical advisor. He is currently the CEO of Amazon’s cloud services known as Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Jassy helped found the Amazon subsidiary in 2006, and became the company’s CEO in 2016.
He built the company into the single largest internet cloud service company.
Jassy lives in Seattle, Washington. He is married to Elena Caplan, a fashion designer.
The couple shares two children.
You can find Jassy here on Twitter where he has nearly 59,000 followers.