Who Is Amazon's New CEO, Andy Jassy?
Jeff Bezos is stepping down as Amazon's CEO in 2021, passing the torch to Andy Jassy, the current CEO of Amazon Web Services, CNBC reported on Feb. 2, 2021. In a letter to employees, Jeff Bezos explained that he will transition to the role of executive chairman of Amazon's board and is looking forward to Jassy being "Primed" for the takeover. "I'm excited to announce that this Q3 I'll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO," Bezos wrote, per CNBC. "... Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence." For those who don't know, "Q3" is from July 2021 to September 2021.
According to The Washington Post, the transition is the "most radical shake-up in Amazon's corporate ranks in its nearly 30-year history." That's because, much like Tim Cook taking the reigns of Apple from co-founder Steve Jobs, new CEOs of tech empires don't change every day. Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994, transforming the company from a scrappy "online bookseller into one of the world's most popular online marketplaces," as WaPo put it. Amazon, per CNBC, recently surpassed a value of $1 trillion, and Forbes named Jeff Bezos the world's richest man (however, he's often battling for the top spot with Elon Musk).
So people are wondering: Who exactly is future CEO Andy Jassy? As Jeff Bezos makes way for a new era at Amazon, scroll down to find out.
Andy Jassy has worked for Amazon since 1997
So what should you know about Amazon's new CEO, Andy Jassy? Part of Jeff Bezos' elite "S-team," Jassy grew up and went to high school in Scarsdale, N.Y. (the same school writer Aaron Sorkin also attended). According to LinkedIn, he attended Harvard University, also receiving his M.B.A there, and has worked for Amazon since 1997, his only ever job. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, when in charge of Amazon Web Services (their data storage and tech division), Amazon has come to "dominate the cloud computing infrastructure industry, cornering 45% of the total market in 2019." Andy Jassy was named Financial Times' person of the year in 2016, and for years — if not decades — served as a "shadow" to Jeff Bezos, per the outlet. Now, it's his time in the spotlight.
Andy Jassy married fashion designer Elana Rochelle Caplan in 1997, per The New York Times, and they share two children. His Twitter bio notes that he is an "experienced buffalo wings eater." One place he could certainly be enjoying those wings is his $6.7 million Santa Monica, Calif. home, which, according to Variety, he purchased in 2020. Andy Jassy also owns a "10,000-square-foot historic" home in Seattle, Wash., his longtime residence, with "Corinthian columns" and "clapboard windows," per Variety. He picked up that gorgeous home in 2009 for $3.1 million.
As for Jassy's net worth? As of this writing, he's reportedly worth a cool $400 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. We have a feeling that figure is soon to increase now that he's a household name!