Under Jassy's leadership AWS has grown into a market leader, with almost one-third of the cloud computing market. With that track record Jassy was always going to be a contender for the top job at Amazon and then last summer Jeff Wilke, who had been running Amazon's consumer business, decided to retire early - leaving Jassy as sole heir apparent.
Bezos the philanthropist?
Bezos, whose net worth is usually hovering around $200bn depending on Amazon's share price that day, reportedly wants to focus on other endeavours outside of Amazon, although he is still likely to be heavily involved in the most strategic decisions Amazon makes.
That's likely to mean time spent on his climate change fund, his space exploration company Blue Origin and his media interests — most notably The Washington Post.
Although not without substantive critics, Bezos now has a real opportunity to reinvent his legacy — not just as a towering businessman and capital allocator, but perhaps as a philanthropist. His ex-wife Mackenzie Scott has already signed The Giving Pledge, set up originally by the Gates family and Warren Buffett, promising to give away a majority of her own personal wealth. Bezos could follow suit.
Interestingly, he has already mimicked Gates' in his approach to stepping down — moving first into a role as executive chairman. If he also chooses to focus his efforts now on philanthropy and charity, with his energy and focus (and $200bn in his back pocket), his impact could be immense.
