Jeff Bezos has officially resigned as Amazon’s CEO. With a capitalization exceeding USD1.8 Trillion, he completed a 27-year journey that made e-commerce one of the most valuable businesses in the world.
Forbes reports on his journey from 5/2021. His wealth has increased 12.425%, to USD196 billion since 1998 when he was listed on the Forbes list as one of the 400 richest Americans with a net worth of USD1.6 Billion. His fortune now exceeds USD202 Billion making him the richest person in the world.
Bezos will remain the executive chairman of Amazon. However, Andy Jassyi (head of Amazon’s Web services) will assume day-to-day operations on July 5.
Bezos won’t be involved in the 1994 company he started. Bezos will focus on other interests such as the Bezos Day One Fund, Bezos Earth Fundraising, and Blue Origin, a commercial space company scheduled to take Mark and him into space on July 20, with Blue Origin.
In 1998, Bezos became the first billionaire after Amazon went public in its online bookstore. The company was just beginning to offer CDs for customers to purchase old books online.
The average stock price at Amazon was $7.47 in that year, which is a mere fraction of the current $3,487.40 share price.
Amazon’s business grew into another industry over the next 20 years. The company’s now-famous prime membership service was launched in 2005. It offered customers a $79 annual fee and free 2-day shipping. Amazon Prime now costs $119 per annum.
Amazon launched the cloud computing unit within its Web services in 2006. It is the most profitable division of the company. It was able to stream video in 2011, buy whole foods in 2017, and home security by purchasing rings in 2018. Additionally, it has been able to film production to grow with a recent bid to acquire studio MGM in May.
The company’s size and increasing influence within Amazon have attracted criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. The company is under investigation by antitrust regulators, labor activists are trying to unionize Amazon’s vast network, progressive lawmakers have publicly slammed Bezos fortune, and conservatives criticize Amazon’s earlier this year decided to remove a transgender book.
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Amazon replied that they had a policy against selling books that identified LGBTQ identities as mental illnesses.