Earlier this week we learned that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as chief executive of the e-commerce giant that he started in his garage nearly 30 years ago.

He will make way for Andy Jassy, currently head of Amazon’s cloud computing business, to take day-to-day control.

Billionaire Mr Bezos won’t entirely give up the reins, however, instead assuming the role of executive chairman.

Today, Amazon is one of the most valuable public companies on the planet, with Mr Bezos vying with Tesla’s Elon Musk for the title as world’s richest man.

What started as a small online book retailer has become a global phenomenon, spanning home delivery, cloud computing, advances in artificial intelligence, and the streaming of movies and sports.

And that has brought Amazon much criticism, ranging from accusations it has contributed to the decline of the High Street to complaints about working conditions in its vast warehouses.

So how has the Amazon empire been built?

This thread was posted by one of our members via one of our news source trackers.