Jeff Bezos—and his company—have certainly had a great run.
On Tuesday Bezos announced that he’s stepping down as CEO of Amazon, the company he founded 27 years ago.
In a letter to employees that coincided with the company’s earnings on Tuesday, Bezos said that Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will take over his role as CEO in the third quarter, while Bezos will become executive chair of Amazon’s board.
“In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well-known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have,” Bezos wrote in the letter.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, and during his tenure as CEO, his company has seen massive stock gains—giving him a hefty net worth to boot.
From its IPO price to Tuesday’s close, Amazon’s stock has soared 225,233% under Bezos, bringing the company’s market cap up to $1.7 trillion. Bezos, meanwhile, enjoyed equally massive gains: His net worth hit $194.9 billion, according to Bloomberg data. A large part of Bezos’s wealth is from Amazon stock, of which he owns 53.2 million shares, or 10.6% of shares outstanding.
Since 1997, Amazon’s revenues have also grown, from $148 million in fiscal year 1997 to $386 billion for fiscal year 2020, while the company has also climbed the ranks of the Fortune 500—from its debut at No. 492 in 2002 to No. 2 in 2020.
Recently unseated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Bezos is the world’s second-wealthiest person.