Jeff Bezos Stepped Down From His Position At Amazon: This Is What The World’s Richest Man’s Retirement Plan Looks Like

The founder and the current executive chairman of the retail giant Amazon, Inc. and the richest man on earth, Jeff Bezos, have hit the headlines. He has just resigned from the CEO position, making way for Andy Jassy, the new Amazon CEO, on the 5th of July, 2021, the same day Bezos stepped down. Interestingly, it’s that day Amazon came into being for the first time 27 years back. So, it has been a matter of nostalgia for the man as he would no longer direct and leads the multinational company. Retirement can be stressful for many who have no idea what their source of income will be later on. For Bezos, having a net worth of more than $200 billion means that his life has just started.

The Journey Started Almost Three Decades Back

Bezos’ journey started 27 years back when he set up Amazon as an online bookstore. He used to operate from a garage. Bezos used to package orders on his own and send them to post offices for delivery. This was how he started. Now, the world knows him as the wealthiest individual in modern history. After staying together for 26 years, his divorce with MacKenzie Scott was a costly one as he had to pay her a part of his interest.

Despite that, Bezos has a total fortune of more than $200 billion under his belt. Isn’t that incredible? After Amazon’s launch, Bezos diversified his business and ventured into cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital streaming, and of course, e-commerce, among other sectors. Presently, the company’s market value is something in the ballpark of $1.7 trillion. That makes Amazon the world’s most valuable brand.

His Net Worth Increased During The Pandemic

Forbes states that amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Bezos’s net worth increased by a staggering $4.9 billion in August 2020. Meanwhile, he has also developed Blue Origin, the aerospace manufacturer and a sub-orbital spaceflight services provider. Blue Origin plays a major role in his retirement planning.

Though Bezos won’t occupy the position of the Chief Executive Officer and won’t be involved in the company’s daily operations, he will continue playing a significant role as Amazon’s executive chairman. Now that he has retired, he will devote his time and attention to several other ventures that he has invested in. However, Blue Origin seems to be the topmost priority.

He Announced Retirement In Early 2021

When Bezos announced in early 2021 that he would be stepping down as CEO of Amazon, he emphasized that Blue Origin would take up much of his time in retirement. On July 20, 2021, he would be flying into space on the New Shepard, the first rocket ship of Blue Origin. It will be a first-crewed flight. He has chosen July 20 to coincide with the fifty-second anniversary of the moon landing by Apollo 11. Bezos has always nurtured his childhood dream of going into space, coming July 20, 2021. He will finally fulfill his dream.

He will have Mark Bezos, his brother, as his companion. Aside from these two, there will be an 82-year-old woman on board. She has tried over the last sixty years but probably never could reach space. There will be Funk too. She is among those 13 women who passed the astronaut training program conducted by NASA in the 6s decade. Funk will go down in history as the oldest woman to reach space. There will be a mysterious individual among the crew who is said to have shelled out $28 million for a set in the New Shepard.

Conclusion

If everything falls into place, Bezos is all set to become the first space tycoons to make the best use of rocket technology and go aboard a rocket ship. However, Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic can beat him as he has announced his journey to space before Bezos. He has planned to do it nine days before Bezos. You can interpret it as Branson’s way of outdoing his rival. Bezos is unmoved about this. he prefers to focus on his private space enterprise since he feels the development of space technologies would benefit the planet. The world is looking forward to July 20, 2021, when Jeff Bezos takes the big leap in his life and science. Are you excited too? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section.