![Jeff Bezos has in the past said he sells roughly $1 billion (Ksh108.9 billion) worth of stock a year. [PHOTO | FILE]](https://k24.digital/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEFF-BEZOS.jpg)
By Hirum Muli,
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down from his role as the chief executive officer this year and transition to the role of an executive chairman.
He will be replaced by Andy Jassy.
Bezos has been Amazon’s CEO since founding the company in 1995.
In 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street firm, and moved to Seattle, Washington, where he began to work on a business plan for what would become Amazon.com.
He oversaw its growth from an online bookseller into a US$1.7 trillion global retail and logistics behemoth, which has also made Bezos into the world’s richest person with his stake in amazon currently worth about $180Billion.
Amazon has grown through mergers and diversifying its acquisition portfolio with over 100 acquisitions in several market sectors.
Bezo’s largest acquisition was the purchase of a grocery store chain, Whole Foods Market, for $13.7 billion in June 2016.
Amazon and other tech giants have enjoyed light-touch regulation and star status in Washington for decades but calls for greater regulations are growing.
