NEW YORK — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down from his role as chief executive later this year and transition to the role of executive chair, the company said on Tuesday. He will be replaced by Andy Jassy, who currently heads the company"s cloud business, Amazon Web Services. Bezos has been Amazon"s CEO since its founding in 1995. He oversaw its growth from an online bookseller into a $1.7 trillion global retail and logistics behemoth, which has also made Bezos one of the world"s richest people. The news came as part of Amazon"s fourth-quarter earnings report. The company handily beat Wall Street analysts" projections for both sales and profit, capping a banner year as the pandemic boosted both its retail and cloud businesses. Amazon shares were flat in after-hours trading Tuesday. The company"s stock has grown nearly 69 percent over the past year. — Courtesy CNN