Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has officially stepped down from his role as the company’s chief executive on the company’s 27th anniversary.
Jeff Bezos has handed the role over to Andy Jassy, Amazon’s cloud chief, who will receive more than $200 million in extra stock that will be paid out over 10 years. Jassy has worked for Amazon for over 20 years.
Jeff Bezos has announced that he will now be focusing on dedicating his time to his personal projects, including his private spaceflight company, Blue Origin, which has a launch scheduled for 20 July 2021.
He also said that he will focus more of his time on fighting climate change and managing The Washington Post, the newspaper he owns.
Bezos will now function in the role of executive chair – almost a strategic advisor to the new CEO. He retains over 10% of all of Amazon’s shares, which makes him the majority shareholder and insures that he can shape the decisions of the new CEO.
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Sources: BBC, Sky News, Metro.co.uk, Star
