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Much of the world still thinks of Amazon.com Inc. as Jeff Bezos’ company. But Bezos, the fourth-wealthiest person on the planet, hasn’t led Amazon for five years. Under his handpicked successor, Andy Jassy, Amazon’s market value has increased by 45% as it’s pushed further into retail, advertising, sports broadcasting, filmmaking and now the AI wave that’s coming for us all, whether we like it or not.

Jassy, and the way he’s pulled Amazon into the artificial intelligence age, is the subject of our June cover story. But if Bezos and his politics still color your feelings about the company — and your Prime membership status — you might want to reconsider. He remains Amazon’s executive chairman, speaks last at board meetings and shares his enthusiasm for new technologies like robotics. But he stays out of operational decisions, other board members tell us. “No one is confused that Andy’s the CEO and Jeff is in there as an incredible asset,” said Brad Smith, the former CEO of Intuit and an Amazon board member since 2023.

Bezos deserves credit for what was by all accounts a model CEO transition. The world today is full of companies (and political movements) inextricably linked to a single person. Tesla Inc. would have a fraction of its market value without Elon Musk at its helm and the army of credulous investors who hang on his sci-fi prognostications. Other companies — Airbnb, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, Palantir, to name a few — remain linked to their founders, who seem to like it that way. Bezos selected his successor and stepped out of the way.

On today's episode, hosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec speak with:

Brad Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek Editor
Blake Leonard, Stew Leonard’s Wines & Spirits President
Kai Boysan, Flix North America CEO

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What Jeff Bezos Told Us About Leaving Amazon

Bloomberg Businessweek