San Francisco: 57-year-old Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos has officially stepped down and former AWS executive Andy Jassy has taken over as the CEO of the company.
Bezos resigned from the role, taking an estimated personal wealth of $197 billion.
“We chose that date because it has sentimental value to me,” the 57-year-old tycoon said during a meeting with Amazon shareholders on Wednesday.
27 years ago, Bezos founded Amazon Inc. in Seattle.
“This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, ‘What’s the internet?’ Blessedly, I haven’t had to explain that in a long while,” Bezos said when announcing his retirement 4 months ago.
Bezos is also the founder of aerospace company Blue Origin, which is working to lower the cost and increase the safety of spaceflight, and he is owner of the Washington Post. He has launched two philanthropic organisations.
Reportedly, he will fly to the edge of space along with brother onboard his company Blue Origin’s tourism rocket — New Shepard — on July 20.
