Jeff Bezos – the founder and CEO of Amazon has stepped down as CEO on Tuesday. He founded Amazon during the dot.com boom in 1995. After kicking off as an online book retailer, Jeff Bezos has led Amazon into a US$1.7 trillion global powerhouse that operates across so many segments that it is getting harder to keep a track of.
Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO, however, he will continue to play a key role as an executive chairman of Amazon. He now intends to focus his energy and attention on his passionate initiatives such as – The Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, etc.
Andy Jassy who has served as the head of Amazon’s cloud computing division and held the title – CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the most profitable division of Amazon has now been confirmed as the new CEO of Amazon.
The recent earnings report showed that overall sales of Amazon surged 44% in the last 3 months of 2020. It generated revenues of $125.6 billion in the previous quarter – being boosted by the lockdowns and the favourable operating conditions it has had as opposed to its offline competitors. AWS alone saw a 28% increase in revenues and it came in at $12.7 billion. Bezos has taken the company to new highs and leaves his role on a high. The transition is estimated to take place in the USA’s summer months.
Amazon is at its high point in innovation right now. They have grown from a bookstore to a global powerhouse in retail, web services, etc. They have also entered the huge artificial intelligence and cloud gaming space as they continue to break barriers with innovation. Amazon shares have surged 65% in the past year and they now trade at $3380 a share. Quite a lot of Australian retail investors are known to be holding shares in Amazon in addition to the top ASX retail stocks.
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