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Jeff Bezos Has Officially Retired As CEO Of Amazon

Jeff Bezos Has Officially Retired As CEO Of Amazon

He stepped down on the same day he launched Amazon as an online bookstore.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Jeff Bezos has officially stepped down as CEO of Amazon.

The tech billionaire wanted to make Monday July 5 his last day as chief for a special reason: that's the same day when Bezos launched Amazon as an online bookstore back in 1994.

Twenty-seven years later, it's now an absolute juggernaut that many people wouldn't be able to live without.

He will now retire with a wealth valued at around $197 billion (which is roughly double the wealth attached to the British Royal family, who were roughly worth $88 billion as of 2017).

Insider reports Bezos' fortune is 739,489 times the median net worth of an American at the age of 65. He also has more money than the GDP of entire countries.

PA

Andy Jassy, the current CEO of Amazon Web Services, will take over as boss of the whole company now that Bezos is gone.

Jeff explained earlier this year that he wanted to step down from the top role to let him explore his other life passions.

In a letter to employees, Bezos said: "In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence."

He acknowledged that a lot has changed since the company first started compared to the massive entity it's known today.

"Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one of the most successful companies in the world," he said in his letter.

"Invention is the root of our success. We've done crazy things together, and then made them normal.

PA

"We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime's insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more.

"If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.

"I don't know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazon's, and I believe we are at our most inventive right now. I hope you are as proud of our inventiveness as I am. I think you should be."

Bezos says he's 'excited' about this new direction in his life and hopes he's able to commit more energy into the things that interest him.

"I've never had more energy, and this isn't about retiring. I'm super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have," he added.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, jeff bezos, Amazon