Today is the last day Jeff Bezos as Amazon¡¯s CEO as after 27 years of creating and helping Amazon flourish, he is soon going to hand over the reins of his gargantuan e-commerce business to Andy Jassy.
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In case you don¡¯t remember, Andy Jassy was behind the success of AWS to help it reach the heights it has achieved today.?
This won¡¯t mean Bezos would say goodbye to Amazon forever though, he is still going to be a part of the company, but from the role of executive chairman of Amazon¡¯s board. He however would no longer be a part of the company¡¯s day to day operations.?
In a letter that Bezos has shared with his fellow ¡®Amazonians¡¯ he asked them to keep their ¡®distinctiveness¡¯, drawing inspiration from Richard Dawkins book -- The Blind Watchmaker, ¡° ¡°We all know that distinctiveness ¨C originality ¨C is valuable. We are all taught to ¡®be yourself.¡¯ What I¡¯m really asking you to do is to embrace and be realistic about how much energy it takes to maintain that distinctiveness. The world wants you to be typical ¨C in a thousand ways, it pulls at you. Don¡¯t let it happen.¡±
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However, while many might be thinking this could be Bezos¡¯s first step towards retirement, it actually isn¡¯t. After revolutionising the e-commerce business, Bezos now has his eyes on space exploration as his next challenge with his space startup Blue Origin.?
Marking this new era, Bezos is expected to take his first flight into space this month on July 20, 2021, aboard the Blue Origin spacecraft. He would be accompanied by his brother, Mark Bezos.?
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While announcing the journey on his Instagram account, he said, ¡°Ever since I was five years old, I¡¯ve dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.¡±
The aircraft will be piloted by 82-year old aerospace pioneer Mary Wallace Funk. She would also create history as the oldest passenger to visit space.?
Also aboard the aircraft would be the winner of the charity auction that was conducted a few weeks ago. The spacecraft will take a short suborbital flight into space and head back to Earth.?
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Bezos could have become the first billionaire to head to space, but sadly this title could be taken by Virgin Galactic¡¯s Richard Branson as it announced its preparation for its spaceflight scheduled for July 12.?
Branson will fly aboard Virgin¡¯s VSS Unity spaceplane on July 11. The company expects to do two additional test flights before opening up commercial service in 2022.