A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2021
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Bezos, Amazon’s founder, will step down as CEO
BY JOSEPH PISANI
The Associated Press
Jeff Bezos,
Amazon
founder
and CEO
NEW YORK — Jeff Bezos,
who founded Amazon as an on-
line bookstore and built it into a
shopping and entertainment be-
hemoth, will step down later this
year as CEO, a role he’s had for
nearly 30 years, to become exec-
utive chairman, the company an-
nounced Tuesday.
Bezos, 57, will be replaced in the
fall by Andy Jassy, who runs Ama-
zon’s cloud-computing business.
In a blog post to employees,
Bezos said he planned to focus on
new products and early initiatives
being developed at Amazon. He
said he would have more time for
side projects, including his space
exploration company Blue Origin,
his philanthropic initiatives and
overseeing The Washington Post,
which he owns.
Bezos, who is the company’s
biggest shareholder, will still have
broad influence over the company.
“Jeff is really not going any-
where,” Amazon executive Brian
Olsavsky said in a call with report-
ers. “It’s more of a restructuring of
who’s doing what.”
Launched in 1995, Amazon
was a pioneer of fast, free shipping
that won over millions of shop-
pers who used the site to buy dia-
pers, TVs and just about anything
else. Under Bezos, Amazon also
launched the first e-reader that
gained mass acceptance, and its
Echo listening device made voice
assistants a common sight in living
rooms.
As a child, Bezos was intrigued
by computers and interested in
building things, such as alarms he
rigged in his parents’ home. He got
a degree in electrical engineering
and computer science at Prince-
ton University, and then worked at
several Wall Street companies.
He quit his job at D.E. Shaw
to start an online retail business
— though at first he wasn’t sure
what to sell. Bezos quickly deter-
mined that an online bookstore
would resonate with consumers.
He and his wife, MacKenzie Scott,
whom he met at D.E. Shaw and
married in 1993, set out on a road
trip to Seattle — a city chosen for
its abundance of tech talent and
proximity to a large book distribu-
tor in Roseburg, Oregon.
See Bezos / A12
BRIEFING
City orders pay
hike; stores close
OSU research farm
Kroger Co. will
close two Southern
California super-
markets in response
to a local ordinance
requiring extra pay
for certain grocery
employees working
during the pandemic.
The decision an-
nounced by the com-
pany Monday follows
a unanimous vote last
month by the Long
Beach City Council
mandating a 120-
day increase of $4 an
hour for employees
of supermarkets with
at least 300 employ-
ees nationwide and
more than 15 in Long
Beach.
Kroger said it will
close a Ralphs mar-
ket and a Food 4
Less on April 17, the
Press-Telegram re-
ported.
“As a result of the
City of Long Beach’s
decision to pass an
ordinance mandat-
ing Extra Pay for gro-
cery workers, we have
made the difficult de-
cision to permanently
close long-strug-
gling store locations
in Long Beach,” the
company said in a
statement.
A city statement
characterized Kro-
ger’s decision as “un-
fortunate for work-
ers, shoppers and the
company.”
Where farming and
solar energy intersect
BY GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
A
URORA — An Oregon State
University researcher is zero-
ing in on plans to build what he
describes as “the Disneyland of
sustainable agriculture.”
Chad Higgins, an associate professor of
biology and ecological engineering, envi-
sions a research farm where growers can
learn about co-developing land for both
solar energy and crop production — a
concept known as agrivoltaics.
Called the Staterra Center, the name is de-
rived from the Latin words “statera,” mean-
ing balance, and “terra,” meaning Earth.
After years of grant writing and finan-
cial uncertainty about the project, Hig-
gins has partnered with the Oregon Clean
Power Cooperative, a nonprofit dedicated
to community solar projects, on a funding
model to make the center a reality.
“I’m pretty bullish on the fact that we’ll
be moving forward with construction in
2021,” Higgins said.
The news comes as Higgins and his
team at the Nexus of Energy Water and
Agriculture Laboratory recently published
their latest study on agrivoltaics, which
found that widespread installation of solar
arrays on farms could provide 20% of to-
tal electricity generated nationwide.
According to the study, it would take a
land base roughly the size of Maryland to
reach that 20% benchmark — equaling
about 1% of current U.S. farmland.
Agrivoltaic arrays would cost $1.12 tril-
lion over a 35-year project lifespan. Re-
searchers estimate it would take about 17
years to pay back the initial investment
using money generated from sales of the
electricity, and the arrays would eventu-
ally produce $35.7 billion in revenue at the
end of 35 years.
The systems would also reduce carbon
dioxide emissions by 330,000 tons, or the
equivalent of taking 75,000 cars off the
road, while creating more than 100,000
jobs in rural communities and minimally
impacting crop yields.
“Agrivoltaics provide a rare chance for
true synergy: more food, more energy,
lower water demand, lower carbon emis-
sions and more prosperous rural commu-
nities,” Higgins said.
The Staterra Center is where Higgins
aims to put theory into practice, devel-
oping the farming practices necessary to
make agrivoltaics work.
See Solar / A12
Sheep graze underneath solar panels at
Oregon State University. OSU via Capital Press
Uber buys alcohol-
delivery company
Uber is bringing
the booze.
The mobile
ride-hailing company
said Tuesday that it
is acquiring the alco-
hol-delivery platform
Drizly for $1.1 billion
in stock and cash.
Uber expects more
than 90% of the sum
to be paid to Drizly
stockholders in shares
of Uber common
stock and the remain-
der paid in cash.
Boston-based Dri-
zly formed about
eight years ago and
delivers alcohol in 26
U.S. states where it
is legal. Drizly says it
partners with retail-
ers in 1,400 cities to
deliver beer, wine and
spirits to customers
through its mobile
app.
Upon closing of the
deal, expected in the
first half of this year,
Drizly will become a
wholly owned sub-
sidiary of Uber. The
companies said that
Drizly’s marketplace
will be integrated
with the Uber Eats
app, while keeping a
separate Drizly app.
— Bulletin wire reports
Proposed 17% water fee hike
in Oregon meets resistance
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A proposed 17% fee increase on wa-
ter transactions and dam inspections has raised
concerns about increasing the economic burden on
Oregon farmers during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Oregon Water Resources Department is ask-
ing lawmakers to raise the fees by passing House Bill
2142, citing a reduced demand for services among
water users and lower general fund revenues.
Without the fee increase — which would raise
$510,000 for the water rights transactions and
$55,000 for dam inspections — the department
would have to cut its staff by 8.83 full-time posi-
tions in mid-2021, said Tom Byler, the agency’s
director.
“This would have an impact on our ability to
carry out our work. While it’s difficult to estimate
exactly how that will play out, we know it will slow
down our ability and reduce our capacity,” Byler
said during a recent legislative hearing. “We antici-
pate it could create a longer waiting time for appli-
cants as a result.”
See Water fees / A12
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press file
A proposed 17% increase in water transaction fees has raised con-
cerns among agricultural groups in Oregon.
It’s not just GameStop
worrying Wall Street
about a stock bubble
BY STAN CHOE
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Now, even the pros on
Wall Street are asking if the stock market has
shot too high.
U.S. stocks have been on a nearly nonstop
rip higher since March, up roughly 70% to
record heights and causing outsiders to say
the market had lost touch with the pandem-
ic’s reality. But Wall Street kept justifying the
gains by pointing to massive support from
the Federal Reserve, lifesaving deliverance
from COVID-19 vaccines and efforts by
Congress to pump more stimulus into the
economy.
Recently, though, some of the market’s
action has become tougher to explain, and
not just the maniacal moves for GameStop.
Some investors are so hungry for huge pay-
offs that they’re pouring into investments
without knowing what their dollars will go
toward. And by some measures, the broad
stock market looks more expensive than it
did before the 1929 crash.
See Bubble / A12