Amazon's big transition: Why is Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO?

This is the biggest tech news of the year yet. Only Facebook, of the FAAMG companies, will still be run by its founder. Thus, naturally, it makes everyone wonder why has Jeff Bezos suddenly decided to step down. In fact, when yesterday Jeff Bezos decided to hand over the CEO reins to Andy Jassy, he said he'd continue to hold the executive chair and the largest shares portion.

Andy (Andrew) Jassy is the head of Amazon Web Services, the cash-cow cloud computing division. He has been with AWS since the start. Post his promotion, Jassy will have several tasks ahead of him. He aims to expand the tech giant's cloud and web services, maintain its place as the world's most important retail giant, and lead the company's efforts in the healthcare space. According to reports, he will also face pressure on another, more personal front - the company's diversity and inclusion efforts.

What will Jeff Bezos do post his stepping-down?

As the executive chairman, he aims to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and his other passions. In the letter to Amazon employees, Jeff Bezos stated, “Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility. And it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else. As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on my other passions.”

Bezos has been on Amazon's CEO chair for 27 years now. Naturally, the company should need revamping and budding new talent. On the other hand, with retirement, Jeff Bezos will get more time and energy to focus on his passions and give back to the world. He said, “I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.”

He is not the first one to do that. Bill Gates, the richest person of his times, too, started Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation post-retirement from Microsoft. Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, too, stepped down. They wanted to ensure “ the diversification of their investment interests into long-term projects such as self-driving vehicles, research into prolonging human life, home automation, artificial intelligence, intelligent cities, internet access via fibre or balloons, using drones for logistics or wind turbines, among others” as Forbes put it.