Meet Amazon's new CEO Andy Jassy, a man experts say is equipped to handle the company's challenges, just like his predecessor, Jeff Bezos.

Alex Peebles

Andy Jassy: Amazon innovator or Jeff Bezos 2.0?

Apr 11, 2022

Alex Peebles

By Alex Peebles

Since Jeff Bezos stepped down last July, Andy Jassy has taken over as the new CEO of Amazon. He’s been challenged by slow profit growth, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, and the company’s first union. But experts say he’s equipped to handle the challenges, just like his predecessor.

“Jassy knows how Jeff thinks, Jassy knows how to run a meeting like Jeff runs meetings, he knows how to drive a huge complex organization like Jeff does,” said Bezonomics author Brian Dumaine, during an interview with Yahoo News.

While he is relatively new to the CEO role, Jassy is not new to Amazon. He joined the company in 1997, when it was still selling books. He also trained under Bezos during a two year mentorship program.

Before leading the company, Jassy headed AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing platform and the company’s most profitable division. Though AWS isn’t without its challenges, Jassy had to discontinue its facial recognition software, ‘Amazon Rekognition’. The software was criticized for misidentifying people of color–an issue made worse after selling Rekognition to law enforcement agencies.

Like Bezos, Jassy has taken on projects outside of Amazon. While he’s not going into space anytime soon, he’s the chairman of a Seattle charter school and a part-owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken.

HE’S AN INNOVATOR THAT’S CHANGING THE WAY WE SHOP, STREAM, AND CREATE.

AND CEO TO ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE COMPANIES IN THE WORLD.

NOT THIS GUY …THIS GUY.

ANDY JASSY. HE’S JUST ONE NAME YOU NEED TO KNOW.

HE MAY BE THE NEW CEO BUT HE’S NOT NEW TO AMAZON.

JASSY JOINED THE COMPANY EARLY… FRESH OUT OF COLLEGE IN 1997, WHEN IT WAS STILL JUST SELLING BOOKS.

Brian Dumaine: “So Jassy knows how Jeff thinks, Jassy knows how to run a meeting like Jeff runs meetings, he knows how to drive a huge complex organization like Jeff does.”

BUT HE MADE HIS WAY TO THE TOP… THROUGH THE CLOUD.

MORE SPECIFICALLY ‘AWS’. AMAZON’S CLOUD COMPUTING PLATFORM THAT JASSY CREATED, THEN LED.

IT’S AMAZON’S MOST PROFITABLE DIVISION….YEP, EVEN MORE THAN THE MILLIONS OF IMPULSE BUYERS.

Jassy: “A quick AWS update. The business is a $46 Billion run rate business.”

ECONOMISTS CREDIT HIS SUCCESS AND LIKEABILITY, AS REASONS WHY AMAZON’S STOCK ACTUALLY ROSE, WHEN BEZOS STEPPED DOWN AND JASSY TOOK THE HELM.

AND HE ISN’T GOING INTO SPACE ANY TIME SOON. HE’S PRETTY ROOTED IN SEATTLE- AS CHAIRMEN OF A LOCAL CHARTER SCHOOL AND PART OWNER OF THE SEATTLE KRAKEN…THE NHL’S NEWEST TEAM.

BUT DON’T LET THE SMILE FOOL YOU, JASSY’S NICKNAME IS ‘CHOP’… AFTER HIS NOTORIOUSLY CUTTHROAT MEETINGS.

REMEMBER PARLER, THE FAR-RIGHT SOCIAL NETWORK? DURING A ‘CHOP’ MEETING, JASSY SUSPENDED THE PLATFORM FOR ITS ROLE IN THE CAPITOL RIOTS. BY KICKING PARLER OFF AMAZON’S SERVER, IT WAS FORCED TO SHUT DOWN.

WHILE HE’S LESS VISIBLE THAN HIS PREDECESSOR, JASSY IS PRETTY VOCAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HE’S NOT ABOVE A SHAMELESS PLUG FOR THE BRAND…HE ALSO DOESN’T SHY AWAY FROM SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES. USING TWITTER TO ADDRESS IMMIGRATION, PRISON REFORM, AND LGBTQ ISSUES. AND IN 2020, USING AMAZON’S ANNUAL CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS RACISM.

Jassy: “The way we’ve treated black people in this country is disgraceful. We have a long way to go.”

AND WHILE AMAZON HAS BEEN RELATIVELY SMOOTH-SAILING SINCE JASSY TOOK THE TOP SPOT, HE HAS CONGRESSIONAL ANTITRUST HEARINGS, RETAIL SLOWDOWNS, AND MORE UNION ATTEMPTS TO NAVIGATE IN THE FUTURE.

ANDY JASSY, JUST ONE NAME YOU NEED TO KNOW.