1 year ago
109 Running 1 of the world's biggest companies — and earning millions per year portion doing truthful — sounds similar a no-brainer for astir people.
But erstwhile Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos asked Andy Jassy to instrumentality implicit arsenic CEO past year, Jassy didn't instantly accidental "yes."
On Wednesday, Jassy explained wherefore helium needed clip to deliberation earlier accepting the job, contempt having decades of acquisition astatine the institution — plentifulness of clip to survey the quality of the role. Before becoming Amazon's CEO, Jassy ran the company's Amazon Web Services division, and had nary plans to alteration his vocation path.
"I've been astatine Amazon for 25 years," Jassy, 54, said astatine The New York Times' 2022 DealBook Summit. "I wasn't truly looking to bash thing different. And I besides truly didn't deliberation that Jeff was ever going to bash thing antithetic successful the clip that I worked there."
So, alternatively of instantly taking the lauded position, Jassy asked Bezos if helium could spell location and speech astir it with his wife. That night, Jassy and his woman decided unneurotic that helium should judge the offer.
Amazon announced the planned alteration successful February 2021, conscionable aft the institution reported its first implicit $100 cardinal quarter. Jassy officially started arsenic CEO 5 months later, successful July.
When Bezos, who is inactive the institution chairman, announced helium was stepping backmost from Amazon, galore radical some wrong and extracurricular the institution were amazed — including Jassy.
But Jassy was well-positioned to instrumentality over, years aft initially joining Amazon arsenic a selling manager successful 1997. He and Bezos worked intimately unneurotic to motorboat Amazon Web Services successful 2006, which Jassy went connected to pb for the adjacent 15 years.
Since Jassy took Amazon's helm past year, the company's banal has fluctuated betwixt grounds highs and steep declines. The institution besides began closing immoderate warehouses and laying disconnected tens of thousands of employees.
But those swings mightiness beryllium retired of Jassy's control. In 2020, Covid-19 lockdowns fueled online shopping, a boon for the e-commerce giant. Now, recessionary fears are prompting tech companies crossed the state to batten down the hatches.
Amazon's layoffs are expected to scope astir 10,000 jobs earlier they're over. Jassy said the cost-cutting measures were necessary, arsenic the institution realized the system was "more uncertain" than they primitively thought.
"We were seeing things that were antithetic from what we've seen before, and we conscionable felt similar we needed to streamline our costs," Jassy said. "As we went done the plans, we realized we needed to beryllium much slim connected immoderate of our resources."
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