Jeff Bezos has announced his transition from an active role at Amazon. He founded the company on this day in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. AWS Chief Andy Jassy will replace him as the CEO of the retail-to-tech behemoth. Jassy is an Amazon veteran who's been instrumental in turning the company into a global technology giant. AWS today accounts for 52 percent of Amazon's income.
In the last 27 years, Bezos has grown Amazon from an online bookseller to 'The Everything Store' and a diversified behemoth valued at $1.7 trillion. In the early days of Amazon, he would pack book orders himself and drive them to the post office. Cut to 2020, and Bezos became the first person in history to amass a $200 billion fortune as Amazon stock soared 86 percent after the pandemic.
With 90 percent of his wealth coming from Amazon Inc, where he's the largest shareholder, Bezos added close to $90 billion to his net worth last year. He currently holds about 11 percent in Amazon stock.
