Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, to step down as CEO

Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon and turned into an online shopping behemoth, is stepping down as the company's CEO, a role he's had for nearly 30 years. He'll be replaced in the fall by Andy Jassy, who runs Amazon's cloud-computing business. Bezos, 57, will then become the company's executive chair. Bezos said he plans to focus on new products and early initiatives being developed at Amazon.

And, he said he'll have more time for side projects: his space exploration company Blue Origin; the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post; and his charities. Launched in 1995, Amazon was a pioneer of fast and free shipping that won over millions of shoppers. Under Bezos, Amazon also launched the first e-reader that gained mass acceptance, and its Echo listening device made voice assistants a more common sight in many living rooms.