Image: Amazon / Protocol
Bye bye Bezos

Good morning! This Wednesday, Andy Jassy is the new CEO of Amazon, how Jeff Bezos will keep himself busy, Uber has a new delivery company to integrate and a startup is just giving away its investors' money.
We also have a new episode of the Source Code podcast today, with Andy Yen of ProtonMail. He talks about privacy, email, encryption and why he doesn't think Apple's the good guy in these debates. (We have new episodes every Wednesday and Sunday, so subscribe to get them all!)
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Big day for Amazon yesterday: It unveiled a new Virginia headquarters that looks like either a drill bit or a poop emoji! And then, oh, side note: Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO.
Andy Jassy will be running the whole shebang starting in October, stepping up from his role as CEO of AWS. Most people assumed this was coming, especially after Jeff Wilke announced last year that he'd be retiring in 2021. And while Bezos has been running the company for its entire 26-year history, as Protocol's Tom Krazit writes, Jassy's been a core piece of the company for almost as long.
As for why this is happening now, Bezos said only that "Amazon couldn't be better positioned for the future." He's not wrong, given that Amazon just dropped a ludicrous earnings report in which the company nearly doubled both sales and profits from last year.
There's one big question we don't have an answer for: Who will replace Jassy? Amazon declined to offer much information, but AWS is such a core part of Amazon's business — it accounts for more than half its profits — that ensuring a smooth transition there is critical.
All told, 2021 will be a year of big change at Amazon: It will see new people in all three of Amazon's top jobs, with Wilke retiring from the top retail job and handing the reins to Dave Clark. The company chalked the overhaul up to "a lot of bench strength" and great succession planning, but it's still a lot of change at once. You could even say it's like it's … day one.
Who is Jeff Bezos when he's not the CEO of Amazon? Well he's a top-two richest guy in the world, a self-reported Lizzo stan, the owner of an increasingly spectacular set of real estate holdings and a high-profile blueberry pancake chef. He's also famous for liking to "putter" around the house, which he'll certainly have more time to do now.
But Bezos made very clear that he's not retiring. He'll be Amazon's executive chair going forward, for one thing, involved in M&A, big strategy moves and other things Amazon calls "one-way doors." And he named a number of other projects that will occupy his time going forward:
Bezos also mentioned "other passions," which might include the 10,000-year clock, his expeditions to find rocket engines on the ocean floor, presumably very good seats at the Climate Pledge Arena and taking epic photos at wind farms. But I'm betting Blue Origin takes up most of his time. Even while running Amazon, he called it "the most important work I'm doing."
Anna Kramer writes: Remember when Amazon bought Diapers.com, Zappos, Soap.com and a bunch of other brands to shore up a whole industry? Uber's after the same thing: It intends to acquire Drizly for $1.1 billion later this year, in yet another acquisition of a company oft-cited as one of Uber's best competitors.
File the Drizly acquisition in the "pandemic-related purchases" folder. Online alcohol sales in the U.S. were once considered a "sleepy" market, but no longer.
Uber obviously wants to be more than a ride-hailing company — Dara Khosrowshahi loves to talk about being "the Amazon of transportation" — and it's particularly set on winning the food delivery space.
By investing in … everything remotely related to "moving people and stuff from place to place," Uber's trying to do what Amazon did for "buying stuff on the internet." Of course, Amazon's not-so-secretly building its own epic logistics network. Maybe Khosrowshahi is hoping Andy Jassy won't care so much about that.
Why sales teams at Box and Segment rely on Slack to build stronger customer relationships and seal deals faster.
Read how sales organizations at Box and Segment are harnessing the power of channel-based messaging to keep communication strong, seal deals and streamline the sales cycle when everyone is remote.
While we're talking Amazon: That's how many dollars the FTC ordered Amazon to pay its Flex drivers, after it was found to be withholding tips from them for two and a half years. The company promised drivers 100% of their tips, but kept 30% for itself. "The conduct alleged in the complaint is outrageous," Becca Slaughter said. And as Protocol's Emily Birnbaum reported, the FTC's likely to keep pushing in this space.
There's a coup happening in Myanmar, and Facebook's Rafael Frankel said the company's trying to help:
Wikimedia created a "Universal Code of Conduct" for Wikipedia, and CEO Katherine Maher said it's in service of inclusion:
On Protocol: Vaccine-scheduling websites are … awful. Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz said that's why tech needs to help:
Poland wants to stop Big Tech censoring its citizens, its deputy justice minister said:
In a post-GameStop world, money means nothing, investments are jokes and everything is bananas. Or something. Anyway, into that world enters Millions, an "anonymous" fintech app that raised $3 million and is just giving away $1 million of it through a bunch of social-media giveaways. There are apparently real products coming, but again, if GameStop taught us anything, it's that real products have no place in a billion-dollar business.
Why sales teams at Box and Segment rely on Slack to build stronger customer relationships and seal deals faster.
Read how sales organizations at Box and Segment are harnessing the power of channel-based messaging to keep communication strong, seal deals and streamline the sales cycle when everyone is remote.
Today's Source Code was written by David Pierce, with help from Anna Kramer and Shakeel Hashim. Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to david@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day; see you tomorrow.
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