Bezos &; quot; Retire & quot; Will fly into space in ten days
Bezos will "retire" and fly into space in ten days. On July 5, it is the day when Amazon CEO Bezos officially stepped down. Whether Bezos announced his resignation or going to heaven, it had little impact on Amazon's share price or market value. But for Jia Xi, it is not an easy task to keep Amazon's position in the future. Bezos "retires" and will fly into space in ten days. 1
July 5 is the day when Amazon CEO Bezos officially stepped down, and a legendary era of global online retailing may soon be over.
Back in 1994, the last time Bezos left his job, it was also the period when the first Internet bubble appeared in the United States. 23%！ A set of data shows that the usage of the network is increasing at such a rapid rate every year.
Bezos was moved by this set of data. He made a quick decision, resigned as the vice president of DESCO, a hedge fund company, got into a garage in Seattle and took out all his savings to start Amazon.
At that time, Amazon was just a niche second-hand book seller platform. No one expected that it would reshape the global retail market in the near future. Shopping malls are no longer popular, and people can receive all kinds of goods at home with a click of the mouse.
Within one month after Amazon launched, the company has been able to deliver goods to all 5 states and 45 other countries in the United States. In the five years after the establishment of Amazon, their customer registered accounts surged from 18, to 17 million, and their sales increased from 51, US dollars to more than 1.6 billion US dollars.
while the strength of the company is increasing day by day, luck has also brought a lot of bonus. When Amazon went public in 1997, it met the first wave of investment craze from big-name investors, thus raising $54 million.
but even with the favor of capital, Amazon is still only involved in low-profit retail business. Wall Street believes that this company will never become a super-profitable large enterprise.
Now, no one will hold such a view, because the cloud computing business has become Amazon's printing machine. Bezos predicted the potential of cloud computing earlier than anyone else. As early as 26, Amazon had launched Web Services (AWS) in cloud computing. This is four years earlier than Microsoft's Azure and seven years earlier than Google Cloud.
for many years, AWS became the profit engine of Amazon. In 22, although AWS only accounted for 12% of the company's total revenue, AWS contributed 6% of the company's annual operating profit.
actually, Amazon wasn't called Amazon at first, but Cadabra. Bezos chose "Amazon" to put the company name first. Bezos's reason is that the Amazon River is the largest river in the world, which breeds the most species, which also represents his desire to include everything in the platform.
as its name implies, after 27 years of development, Amazon has become a "big river" in the Internet field. From cloud computing to advertising business to streaming media, this company covers almost everything. In September 218, Amazon's market value exceeded 1 trillion US dollars, and now, this figure has reached 1.77 trillion US dollars.
Bezos: the world's richest man under siege
Bezos devoted himself to Amazon and achieved himself. In 1999, Time magazine named him "Person of the Year", making him one of the youngest people to win this honor and calling him "the king of e-commerce".
Bezos is the founder with the longest CEO position among the four American Internet giants FAAG whose market value exceeds one trillion dollars.
The soaring market value of the company naturally drives Bezos' worth to rise, making him the richest man in the world. Real-time data of the latest Forbes global rich list shows that Bezos is worth $191.4 billion, ranking first.
"Bezos is a combination of pragmatism and idealism." Wang Peng, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, said. Wang Peng believes that after Bezos leaves his current post, he is planning a new round of career that can be realized in the foreseeable future. It may include the integration of artificial intelligence and physical industry, as well as the exploration in the field of biomedicine.
But looking back on Bezos' journey, there are some "too high to be cold". If investors think Bezos is a visionary and daring CEO, then in the eyes of Amazon employees, Bezos' image may not be so tall.
Bezos was selected as the worst boss in the world by Glory at the 3rd International Trade Union Confederation in Berlin, Germany in 214, which was the choice of over 1,5 trade union representatives from 161 countries. An Amazon employee once said, "If you don't behave well, Bezos will tear you to pieces. If you do well, he will let you work until you get down. "
apart from the complaints of his own employees, Bezos is also unpopular in society. In the eyes of the public, it is natural to "earn more and pay more taxes", but according to the American news website ProPublica, Bezos did not pay any federal personal income tax in 27 and 211.
Perhaps the real world is somewhat unworthy of Bezos' future dreams. After leaving office, Bezos decided to devote himself to the space that he has always been fascinated by. On July 2th, he plans to take the first manned plane made by his company Blue Origin into space.
Sadly, however, a petition that does not allow him to return to Earth has collected nearly 15, signatures.
Anti-monopoly: How does the new helmsman sail
In fact, with Amazon's business entering a mature growth track, Bezos has not invested as much energy in the daily operation of the company as before in the past two years.
whether Bezos announces his resignation or wants to go to heaven has little impact on Amazon's share price or market value. The indifference of the market may prove investors' confidence in Amazon and their confidence in the huge enterprise machine created by Bezos in the past 27 years.
nowadays, it is widely believed that Amazon has established a set of smooth procedures for developing new products, managing the way of discussing opinions and making major decisions. Ma Chao, a financial technology expert, analyzed that from the perspective of giants such as Google and Apple, the replacement of the head of the company did not have much impact on the company's operations.
However, the new head of Amazon, Andy Jassy, is still crucial. The handover between Bezos and Jasi marks the first leadership transition of Amazon on the 27th anniversary of its establishment.
as a follower of Bezos for more than 2 years, Jia Xi's most famous achievement is to build Amazon's huge AWS cloud computing business. "Jia Xi's prestige in AWS is by no means weaker than Bezos. It can be said that Jia Xi is the soul of Amazon." Ma Chao said.
but it is not an easy task for Jia Xi to keep Amazon's position in the future. For the new CEO and how to develop in the future, beijing business today contacted Amazon, but as of press time, he has not received a reply.
according to Zhang xiaorong, president of the institute of deep science and technology, Amazon is a giant now, and there are many development directions to choose from. As the world's top Internet integrated service provider, the future development direction is renewable energy and zero-carbon economy, which is also an area that Bezos has repeatedly emphasized.
Zhang Xiaorong further pointed out that cloud computing is certainly an important direction for Amazon now, but in comparison, antitrust investigation is a problem that Amazon needs to work hard to solve.
if you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight. After Jia Xi took office, the first and most important problem he faced was the increasing scrutiny from the regulatory agencies. So he needs to go to Capitol Hill instead of Bezos to solve the company's "anti-monopoly" problem.
In October last year, after a 16-month investigation on the competitive behaviors of technology giants including Amazon, the Anti-monopoly Subcommittee of the Judiciary of the US House of Representatives concluded that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google formed a monopoly.
At the same time, the U.S. Congress is also considering legislation against antitrust, and one of the targets of this legislation is Amazon, a huge business empire. Bezos "retires" and will fly into space in ten days. 2
Bezos founded Amazon exactly 27 years ago. The online bookstore he founded in his garage has now evolved into a supplier selling almost all kinds of goods. Amazon's business scope has long been extended to areas other than book sales. For example, Jia Xi helped to build a profitable and market-leading cloud computing service AWS, which operates data centers that serve various enterprise computing needs. Amazon is also expanding into Hollywood and health care.
Amazon's share price was only $1.5 at first, but now it has exceeded $3,5, and its market value has exceeded $1.7 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world. Amazon's annual profit almost doubled in 22, reaching $21.3 billion. This is partly due to the fact that the COVID-19 epidemic prompted more consumers to shop online, which helped the company's revenue increase by 38% to $386.1 billion.
regulatory resistance
comes with stricter scrutiny. Amazon has long been concerned by global regulators on issues such as taxation and data collection, and now the company is resisting antitrust lawsuits that may lead to huge fines.
us president Joe Biden recently appointed Lina Khan, a famous science and technology critic, to head the federal trade commission (FTC), which is investigating Amazon. Although the details of the investigation have not been made public, it is expected that Amazon, as a retailer of its own products, will be involved in the conflict of interest caused by competition with third-party merchants on the platform it operates. Amazon is accused of using proprietary data from third-party suppliers to make cheaper own-brand goods. But Amazon refutes these claims.
at the same time, the U.S. congress is enacting a new antitrust law that may change Amazon's business. European regulators have also been investigating some practices of the company.
Many current and former employees of Amazon said that Jia Xi's gentle personality, coupled with his unknown outside the Silicon Valley circle, may eventually benefit Amazon, because Amazon is always stared at by critics.
John Rossman, a former Amazon executive and the author of The Amazon Way, once said, "When Congress or other stakeholders call to ask or raise sharp questions, Jia Xi will represent Amazon. Perhaps, in some ways, not the founder will help him achieve greater results in these dialogues. "
fierce competition
Amazon is also facing challenges from many big companies in the United States. For example, retail Wal-Mart is competing with Amazon in the local market with its own parcel delivery service, and Microsoft has signed cloud computing service agreements with top enterprises including Wal-Mart to narrow the leading edge of AWS led by Jia Xi.
At the same time, Jia Xi also faces potential threats from within. Amazon is trying to cope with the efforts of warehouse employees and employees in other departments to form unions. Although the company's distribution center in Bessemer, Alabama easily repelled some workers' plans to organize unions, labor groups, including truck drivers, vowed that the struggle had just begun.
Amazon also hopes to keep its appeal to office workers. At present, many start-ups provide employees with more flexible working hours. Initially, the company said that it planned to build an "office-centered culture", but soon updated the guidelines, requiring employees to return to the office only three days a week, in line with their peers in the industry.
Cultural inheritance
The transition from Bezos to Jasi will not have much impact on Amazon. Jia Xi himself represents a part of Amazon's corporate culture, and he helped design the core leadership principles to guide employees.
at the beginning of this century, Jia Xi was also regarded as the "shadow" of Bezos. Former employees said that for Bezos, "shadow" is like "brain body double", which helps him to provide another set of eyes and ears in the meeting. The formal names of these "shadows" are technical assistants, who will help Bezos review the daily events and prepare for the next activity. "Shadow" usually plays a respected role in the company. For Jia Xi, this is an important factor for him to be responsible for leading Amazon's nascent cloud computing business.
Jia Xi once gave advice to Bezos' next "shadow" Colin Bryar on how to undertake this job. Blair and other former colleagues said that Jassy had the same driving force as Bezos. But as we all know, he took a slightly different approach to leadership style. People close to Bezos say that Bezos may be opinionated, energetic and sometimes aggressive. Jia Xi usually has a softer temperament, but sometimes his attitude may be just as tough, such as recalling the specific details of his speech and pointing out the shortcomings accurately.
Jia Xi also has Bezos' hobby, which is to push employees to act in a more far-sighted way. Bezos sometimes focuses on a project, and to the surprise of many employees, he regularly communicates with the team to ensure that they are on the right track. David David Anderson, former manager of Amazon's AWS and equipment division, said that Jasi was "more like Bezos than any other Amazon executive", which was due to his intelligence and deep understanding of Amazon's business from top to bottom.
Anderson recalled an operation meeting of AWS, which was attended by senior leaders. At the meeting, Jia Xi deeply discussed highly specific and technical issues. Anderson said: "This surprised me, because this is the person in charge of the whole AWS, but he is very familiar with the technical details at the bottom. I suddenly feel that it is really convincing that he can lead this business. He not only has great ideas, but also knows the details. "