GENEVA (AP) — Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, best known for hosting an annual meeting of political, business and other elites in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, is retiring as chairman more than a half-century after creating the Geneva-based think tank, the forum said Monday.

The chairman of the World Economic Forum will step down "with immediate effect," the Swiss-based non-governmental organization announced Monday. On Sunday, during a special meeting, the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum accepted the resignation of its longtime leader Klaus Schwab.