The Verge reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has officially stepped down from the role he has occupied as CEO of the e-commerce giant since founding the company 27 years ago.
This is a major moment for Amazon, which has had Bezos at the helm of the company for its entire existence. The company has become one of the world’s most dominant technology firms, wielding monopoly power to crush the competition both online and in traditional retail.
Bezos will be replaced by Andy Jassy, who was named the CEO of Amazon Web Services in 2016. At the end of 2020, AWS controlled around a third of the total cloud computing market.
Although Bezos is stepping down as CEO, he will be staying on as Amazon’s executive chair, where he reportedly will “stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives.” He also plans to dedicate more time and energy to other initiatives such as the Day One Fund and Bezos Earth Fund foundations, the Washington Post, and his Blue Origin space company.