Jeff Bezos Steps Down as the CEO of Amazon
Econ Watch (2/20/21)
Emily Liu
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos publicly announced his resignation from CEO to executive chairman on February 2, 2021. Andy Jassy, who has been with Amazon since 1997 and is the current head of Amazon Web Services (AWS), is set to take over during the third quarter of 2021.
Betting on the lucrative potential of the internet, Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore. Since then, the company has grown into an enormous global online retail store. As of January 2021, it is the third largest company in the world and is worth over $1.6 trillion.
How will this shift in leadership affect the stocks of Amazon? An analysis of what happened to Apple stock after Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO shows what might happen to Amazon stock in the future.
Jobs first became the CEO of Apple in 1997. Leading the creation of the Mac OS X, iMac, and other profitable products, Jobs was able to lead Apple out of near bankruptcy into 35th spot on the Fortune 500 list. Then, in 2011, Jobs stepped down and was replaced by Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook.
The news caused investors to fear that the replacement of Jobs, who was essentially the foundation of Apple’s success, would end the company’s growth. Contrary to their doubts, Cook built on the success of Apple and nurtured Apple’s worth from $360 billion to $2.2 trillion.
Although the considerable success of Apple may not be replicated to Amazon, it is safe to say that the transition of power will not cause any large changes to Amazon. Amazon will continue to dominate the online retail store market for many years to come.
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