Jeff Bezos to Step Down: Jeff Bezos, who founded an online bookseller named Amazon in 1944, went ahead to upend the store into “the everything store,” selling various products from books, home appliances to electronic items and apparel.

On Tuesday, Mr.Bezos announced that he plans to hand over the reins this year and transition to the executive chairman of Amazon’s board. Andy Jassy, the Chief Executive of Amazon’s cloud computing division, will take over Bezos’s position.

Started 27 years back as an idea, without any name, Bezos mentioned, “The question he was asked most frequently at the time he started the company was, ‘What’s the internet?’ And Bezos answered the question by building Amazon into a behemoth with 1.3 million talented employees, catering to hundreds of millions of customers.

“Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming,” Bezos wrote in his letter. “When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else. As Exec Chair, I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives and have the time and energy I need to focus on my other passions. 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“, Bezos mentioned in a letter to its employees.

He further added, “Jassy is an obvious choice for the top position, especially after John Wilke, who was also another veteran Amazon leader, announced his retirement in August. Jassy is Amazon’s elite leadership group member and has overseen the growth of AWS over the years.”

Here are a few facts about the little-known but powerful employee of Amazon who will soon take over Jeff Bezos’ responsibilities.

Jeff Bezos to Step Down. Here are some key facts you need to know about Andy Jassy

Jassy is currently heading the Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant’s remunerative cloud storage arm, which had received a boost to the cloud during the pandemic hit.

Under Jassy’s guidance, the AWS has emerged as a strong force in the $100 billion cloud computing industry, leaving behind Google and Microsoft.

Jassy started his career with Amazon in 1997 after attending the Harvard Business School and worked as Bezos’ technical assistant before eventually becoming an integral part of the launch of AWS in 2006.

Being a close confidant of Bezos, he has been involved in the controversial decision to boot Parler off AWS following the Capitol riot, a move which garnered them both praise and a lawsuit from a right-wing media network.

“Jassy brings the first principles thinking that has always been a part of what’s made Amazon successful. Deeply trying to understand the end customer, creating building blocks by which other people can build and then being good at rapidly iterating,” said Matt McIlwain, MD of Madrona Venture Group. He has closely monitored Amazon’s rise, told Bloomberg in a statement.

Announcing Andy as his successor, Jeff wrote in his letter to his employees, “I’m excited to announce that this Q3, I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board, and Andy Jassy will become CEO. I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives in the Exec Chair role. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.“