Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon's CEO on Monday, 27 years after the company's founding. Moving into his role is Andy Jassy, who joined the company in 1997 as a bookseller but has since risen through the ranks to head the company's successful cloud services division, Amazon Web Services (AWS). He inherits the e-commerce behemoth at a "critical time" as the company faces "a growing threat of regulatory action to control its dominance of markets across the world," explain Rupert Neate Wealth and Sarah Butler at The Guardian. Is Jassy up for the challenge?
He certainly has a good track record, having conceived of and overseen AWS, which is now Amazon's most reliable source of profit, bringing in $13.5 billion in revenue in the first 3 months of 2021. He also apparently was the mastermind behind Amazon's move into the world of CDs and DVDs in the late '90s. He is "more of a continuity candidate than a revolutionary," The Economist says, adding that Jassy is "detail-oriented and more than a little nerdy — much like Mr. Bezos in his first couple of decades in charge."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
5 sleeper hit cartoons about Trump's struggles to stay awake in courtCartoons Artists take on courtroom tranquility, war on wokeness, and more
-
The true story of Feud: Capote vs. The SwansIn depth The writer's fall from grace with his high-flying socialite friends in 1960s Manhattan is captured in a new Disney+ series
-
Scottie Scheffler: victory for the 'pre-eminent golfer of this era'Why Everyone's Talking About Masters victory is Scheffler's second in three years
-
Empty-nest boomers aren't selling their big homesSpeed Read Most Americans 60 and older do not intend to move, according to a recent survey
-
Brazil accuses Musk of 'disinformation campaign'Speed Read A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and X
-
Disney board fends off Peltz infiltration bidSpeed Read Disney CEO Bob Iger has defeated activist investor Nelson Peltz in a contentious proxy battle
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detenteSpeed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe feesSpeed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billionSpeed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
