Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, retires as the CEO of Amazon today. Amazon veteran and Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy will be taking over from here. Bezos will, however, remain the executive chairman of Amazon’s board and the biggest shareholder of the company.

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Bezos started Amazon as an online bookstore in a Seattle garage and turned it into a $1.2 trillion global company. His retirement after 27 years starts the next phase in his life. The 57-year-old billionaire wants to “focus his energies on new initiatives”.

In a message to 1.3 million Amazon employees, Bezos said “I intend to focus my energies on new products and early initiatives... I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organisations can have.”

Amazon Studios

In May this year, Amazon acquired the famed Hollywood studio MGM for $8.45 billion.

“MGM has a vast, deep catalogue of much-beloved intellectual property. With the talented people at MGM and the talented people at Amazon Studios, we can reimagine and develop that IP for the 21st century,” Bezos said at Amazon's annual shareholder meeting.

Recently, Bezos reposted a selfie with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson on Instagram. The caption of the photo, originally posted by Johnson, said, “Exciting week coming up as our @amazonstudios & @sevenbucksprod come together for a big announcement to deliver fun to families around the world. Shared passions and always putting in the hard work with our own two hands.

Blue Origin

Bezos has called his aerospace company Blue Origin "the most important work I'm doing." Bezos with his brother, former aviator Wally Funk, and the winner of a public auction are going to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship.

Blue Origin is developing a rocket called New Glenn that Bezos hopes will be used to send US government and commercial satellites to orbit and make trips to deep space. In the last few years, Bezos has invested billions of dollars into Blue Origin to promote tourism and infrastructure in space.

Other avenues

Bezos is now expected to focus more on The Washington Post that he bought for $250 million in 2013. Bezos is credited with saving the newspaper from a downward spell and bringing a new digital age for the heritage news organisation.

Meanwhile, he is also said to be doing a lot more philanthropic work. In 2020, Bezos set up a $10-billion 'Bezos Earth Fund' “to accelerate the transition to 100 percent clean energy and equitable access to healthy air, water, and land.”