How new CEO Andy Jassy can follow in Jeff Bezos’ footsteps
As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos prepares to leave the planet in the coming weeks in a rocket built by his spaceship company, he’s handing the reins of his e-commerce business — and the country’s second-largest employer — to Andy Jassy, 53, a loyal lieutenant who spent 24 years by Bezos’ side.
Jassy, the former head of Amazon Web Services, begins his first day as Amazon’s new CEO on Monday. He has been with Amazon since 1997, just three years after Bezos founded what was then an online book store, from his home in a Seattle suburb on July 5, 1994.
The business has since ballooned into one of the most powerful companies in the world, alongside oil giant Saudi Aramco and tech monolith Apple, with a valuation of about $1.8 trillion. It has also propelled Bezos to the top of the list of world’s richest men, and made him one of just eight centibillionaires in the world, with a personal fortune of close to $200 billion.
With over 1.3…
