There are two Jeff Bezos now — one will focus on earth domination while the other will take over space.
26 years of an exceptionally victorious journey, that inspired millions of businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide, has come to a discerning end. Founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos has announced that he will step down from the position, passing over the baton to Andy Jassy, his long-serving deputy and the current head of Amazon Web Services.
However, the decision is not the end of the journey. Rather, it is the beginning of something possibly more grand for one of the most successful business tycoons of the modern world. Stepping down from the position of Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos is all set to rein over the company from the Executive Chair of the Amazon Board, the company he began from his garage with a handful of employees. From selling books online to dominating every digital industry in the world, under Bezos’ leadership the company touched the historical mark of $100 billion in three-month’s revenue. A legacy as grand as this doesn’t end. It looks for a bigger room to expand.
Jeff Bezos has packed his belongings and moved to a bigger room.
From CEO to Executive Chair of Amazon Board
If you think that this is the end of the Bezos era, you might be terribly wrong. The decision of stepping down from the media-magnet position of Amazon doesn’t decrease Bezos’ influence. Since years, the second-richest man of the world has been the epicenter of all hatred and surveillance for world billionaires. The move takes Bezos away from public eye where his power will be cloaked under a layer of dust. So you might not be able to see it, but guess what – this is what makes him more powerful than ever.
Once Amazon’s new boss takes up the Executive Chair of Amazon Board, Bezos will take a back seat, not from the important day-to-day operational decisions but media spotlight. Directing the new CEO Andy Jassy, Bezos will still be the lead-figure but with more time and space to expand his ventures, influencing political, media, technology and philanthropic affairs. As the single biggest shareholder of the company, when Amazon grows in future, Bezos will become richer and richer. But this time, he won’t be the one to go for trial in Congress.
Who is Amazon’s New CEO, Andy Jassy?
In September, 2020, we published a report on why Andy Jassy stands on stronger ground to take over Jeff Bezos as the new Amazon CEO, more than any other employee.
Next to Bezos, Andy Jassy is one of the longest serving employees of Amazon. Joining in 1997, Andy worked as the technical assistant for Bezos after graduating from Harvard Business School. Before being appointed as the new CEO of the world’s biggest company, Andy Jassy was the head of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud computing business.
Watch: Who is the Andy Jassy, the new Amazon boss?
Appointing the head of AWS as the CEO of Amazon is a stark sign that the company is planning to place AWS at the fifth gear of growth and expansion.
Here are some of the interesting facts about the incoming CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy:
- Graduated from Harvard University.
- Joined Amazon in 1997
- Founded AWS in 2006, the company that is now competing against giants like Microsoft’s Corp’s Azure and Google Cloud.
- 67% of the total revenue of Amazon in the Q3 of 2020 was generated by AWS, headed by Andy Jassy.
- The future CEO of Amazon has a personal net worth of $394 million.
Not your Average Outgoing CEO
When a CEO steps down from a company with $200 billion in net worth, you know he isn’t going to sit back. The best example is Bill Gates who, after stepping down as the CEO of Microsoft, went on to become the quintessential philanthropist and even won Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. For Jeff Bezos, there is more on the plate to be taken care of. Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, The Washington Post, Blue Origin and other ventures that he may look to increase his focus on now.
To quote from the statement issued by Bezos: “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.”
Bigger focus on the Blue Origin – SpaceX Race?
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin are the two companies with the same vision to empower and expand the future of space exploration. Not many people know this but Blue Origin was actually founded before SpaceX in the year 2002. However, on the scale of success, SpaceX lies much ahead of Bezos’s space domination ambitions.
Watch: SpaceX vs Blue Origin
Elon Musk recently surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the richest man on earth. And through SpaceX’s pioneering success, the man is already miles ahead than anyone else. However, now that Jeff Bezos has a little less burden on his shoulders, it would be interesting to see if Blue Origin too follows the lead of his legacy.
SpaceX is not the only competitor that Blue Origin had to go against in order to come out triumphant. There are other U.S aerospace giants like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and others.
The Market Outlook for Amazon’s future
The sensational news of Jeff Bezos stepping down from the position of CEO came at a time when Amazon recorded skyrocketing boost in revenue, touching the milestone of $100 billion in Q3 in the year of the pandemic. After the news came in, Wall Street reacted with optimism. The company has estimated revenue worth $106 billion for the Q4 end and investors seem to have unbreakable faith in the company’s forecast. There is not going to be any major change in the leadership style as Andy Jassy is quite similar to Jeff Bezos in work style, beliefs and ethics.
Moreover, the incoming CEO has proved his excellence by making AWS the largest revenue source for the company in Q3. The expansion of AWS is only expected to grow manifold in future, with prediction of eating up the cloud computing giants like Oracle, Microsoft and Google. There is no reason why investors would not place their bid on the future of Amazon.
