The founder Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, will step down his role as CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Mr Bezos, 57, announced he will finish as CEO later this year. Instead being CEO, he will take the new role of Amazon's executive chair. He will pass the position CEO to Andy Jassy. Mr Jassy is currently head of Amazon Web Services - a cloud computing business. Mr Bezos has been charge Amazon since founding the company his garage in 1995. The company started as an online bookseller but turned a global online marketplace. It branched out streaming video, music, and audiobooks. It also produces consumer electronics, including Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets and Echo devices.
Amazon is one the world's biggest Internet companies and one the most valuable. It is worth $1.7 trillion. The company has made Mr Bezos one the world's richest people. Bezos commented his success. He said: "This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently that time was, 'What's the Internet?' Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one the most successful companies the world." Mr Bezos also owns the Washington Post newspaper and the space travel company Blue Origin, which aims to go to Mars.
