Monday 05 July 2021 8:24 am | Updated: Monday 05 July 2021 8:47 am

Jeff Bezos’s Amazon reign ends today exactly 27 years after he founded the company

Jeff Bezos’s reign at Amazon ends today, exactly 27 years after he founded the company that changed the landscape of online retail forever.

Bezos founded Amazon on this day in 1994 and in that time has seen it transform from an online retailer specialising in selling books into a global profit-churning e-commerce phenomenon.

Many attribute the success of the company to Bezos’s unusual management style and drive toward ensuring customers are happy at any cost.

Amazon executives must follow 14 leadership principles, including being customer obsessed, having a backbone to disagree and to insist on the highest standards.

Although delivering on these guiding principles has partly helped it become one the world’s largest companies, former employees have said they have created a bruising work culture.

Accusations of ruthless behaviour and pursuing monopolistic practices has damaged Bezos’s reputation. Claims that he paid no tax between 2007 and 2011 have fuelled criticism of the Amazon founder.

However, despite claims that he is too brutish and demanding of his employees, Bezos’s drive to innovate has changed the fabric of e-commerce across the globe. The success of Amazon’s cloud computing service, Amazon Web Services, is testament to his versatility.

He intends to break through one final frontier in his next venture, announcing he will travel into space on board the first crewed flight of his space travel company, Blue Origin.