Amazon will enter a new era tomorrow: Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO of the company after 27 years. He is given the role of executive chairman; in doing so, he hands over the day-to-day management, but he remains involved in major decisions.
How will the company continue without the visionary who made it this far? Bezos made Amazon an influential e-commerce giant, but the company has also been criticized for market power and tax evasion (which it opposes).
Named after a river
When you think of Amazon, you probably think of the web store first. That’s where it all started in 1994. The name is a reference to the Amazon, one of the longest rivers in the world. Bezos also wanted to be among the top with his online bookstore.
The platform grew into a place where you can buy millions of products. The company is also increasingly active in the Netherlands. Since March last year sellers can offer products through Amazon’s platform.
But the ambitions of the CEO were bigger than the web store all those years: Bezos subsequently expanded the company into a conglomerate with various branches. There was a competitor for Netflix with Amazon Prime, a smart speaker (a private smartphone failed), there were smaller and larger acquisitions.
A selection of what comes under Amazon these days:
–
