End of an era: Amazon gets new CEO

As of this July 5, Jeff Bezos will retire as CEO of the company he founded in 1994 and the new CEO of Amazon will be Andy Jassy, who led Amazon Web Services (AWS). This Monday, July 5, marks a new stage in the history of the ecommerce giant, since its founder, Jeff Bezos , will leave the position of CEO of Amazon in the hands of his successor , Andy Jassy .

After 27 years leading the company, Bezos will step aside to become Amazon’s CEO and focus on other projects . “As CEO, I will continue to participate in important Amazon initiatives, but I will also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund , Bezos Earth Fund , Blue Origin , The Washington Post, and my other passions. I have never had more. energy and it is not about retiring. I am very passionate about the impact that I think these organizations can have, “ said Bezos when announcing that he would step down as CEO of Amazon 5 months ago via email.

Additionally, Jeff Bezos remains the majority individual shareholder and will maintain his key role at the helm of the board. Until last month, the richest man in the world owned 51.2 million shares, or about 10% of Amazon’s common shares. The next largest shareholder is Vanguard Group, with about 6.5% of the company’s shares in its possession.

For his part, Andrew R. Jassy , who joined the company since its inception in 1997 and ran Amazon Web Services (AWS) until yesterday, will assume a position that poses many challenges at this time.

While the company is considered the most valuable brand in the world , it also faces a lot of criticism for its employment policies . In addition, it is under scrutiny by regulators for its business practices, with some believing that it has become too mainstream.

Added to this, it is expected that during the coming months they will register a drop in purchases, as the economy reactivates and people resume physical purchases.

Another big challenge for Jassy will be to keep Amazon Web Services (AWS) among the top cloud storage service providers, as competition is getting tougher. In 2020, for example, Microsoft’s Azure cloud generated more revenue than Amazon and Google combined .

Today Amazon is worth $ 1.77 trillion and the third most valuable firm on Wall Street, behind only Apple ($ 2.33 trillion) and Microsoft ($ 2.09 trillion). It’s a powerhouse in retail, entertainment, logistics and advertising, but it won’t stop there. Specialists predict that it will expand into new areas such as healthcare, grocery and financial services.

But everything comes at a price, and Amazon’s expansion can cost you losing other customers. An example of this is the supermarket chain Target, which decided to withdraw from the platform when Amazon acquired the grocery stores Whole Foods. Only time will tell if Andy Jassy is the leader Jeff Bezos hopes for and if he’s able to keep Amazon at the top, just as its 27-year founder did.