Jeff Bezos recently announced he would be stepping down from being CEO of Amazon, a company now worth over one trillion dollars, which he founded over twenty years ago. In an email to employees, Bezos cited he wanted to focus on his other projects such as the Washington Post and the Bezos Earth Fund.
The chief executive of Amazon Web Services, Andy Jassy, is expected to step-up and take over as CEO starting this summer whereas Bezos will assume the position of executive chair.
Much of Jeff Bezos’ fortune derives from his shares of Amazon stock, which he helped start, originally as an online bookstore, to become one of the the richest men in the world. However, he will not entirely be leaving his duties at the company, rather assuming a slightly different position. Bezos stressed he wanted to instead focus on his philanthropic efforts.
The transition is expected to be smooth and will most likely occur later this summer. Read more about the transition here.