Who is Andy Jassy?

The incoming Amazon boss is a hockey fan, and part of a ‘new era’ of executives.

Andy Jassy.

Hello and welcome to The Download, The Australian’s technology blog for the latest tech news.

David Swan 12.20pm: Who is Andy Jassy?

Amazon‘s incoming chief executive is Andy Jassy, the current CEO of the tech giant’s cloud arm, Amazon Web Services, which was responsible for two-thirds of the entire company’s operating profit last quarter.

Jassey joined Amazon in 1997, and was once Bezos‘ technical assistant, before helping coming up with the idea to rent out cloud storage in the early 2000s, founding Amazon Web Services in 2006. AWS has since gone on to become the biggest cloud provider in the industry, dwarfing the likes of Microsoft and Google in size and scale.

“I took my last final exam at HBS, the first Friday of May in 1997 and I started Amazon next Monday,” Jassy told a Harvard Business School podcast in September.

“No, I didn’t know what my job was going to be, or what my title was going to be. It was super important to the Amazon people that we come that Monday.”

Described as Bezos‘ ’heir apparent’ by the Washington Post, Jassy lives in Seattle, where Amazon is headquarted. He also recently puchased a second home in Santa Monica, California, according to reports.

He‘s a hockey fan, owning a minority stake in the Seattle Kraken, and is worth an estimated $US394m. He’s married to Elana Rochelle Caplan, and is a father of two.

Todd McKinnon, the US-based chief executive of cloud-based identity software provider Okta, told The Australian that Jassy‘s appointment represented the latest in an emerging trend of cloud leaders stepping up as CEOs at some of the world’s largest companies.

“Just look at Satya Nadella at Microsoft, John Donahoe at Nike and Arvind Krishna at IBM. We’re now officially in the era of the cloud CEO,” he said.

“Historically, cloud technologists might not have been the traditional choice to be tapped as CEOs, but that’s changing: they bring perspective and expertise that’s become increasingly valuable to business success. First off, being able to build a recurring revenue model is critical to a business’ success. It’s also crucial to serving today’s digital-first customers — in a market where consumers not only want instant gratification, but also want to rent, not buy — being a SaaS expert is invaluable.

“Cloud CEOs also better understand the decision-making around ‘build, buy, partner’ and strategically approach innovation in both technology-focused and business-friendly ways. They recognize the signals of disruption and know how to react quickly to market shifts. Cloud leaders like Andy Jassy have already led the massive shift from on-prem to cloud and understand how systemic shifts can affect every type of business.

“If you look at today’s Fortune 500 companies compared to those of the 20th century, we can see a huge shift in the business landscape over the past 50 years and the winners are technology companies. Cloud technologists will continue to reshape the way companies do business.”

David Swan 9.40am: Read Jeff Bezos’ letter to employees

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos is stepping down, to become executive chairman of the tech giant. Here’s the email he wrote to all employees.

Fellow Amazonians:

I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO. In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. 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.

This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, “What’s the internet?” Blessedly, I haven’t had to explain that in a long while.

Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one of the most successful companies in the world.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on February 2, 2021, he would give up his role as chief executive of the tech and e-commerce giant this year as the company reported a surge in profit and revenue in the holiday quarter. The company said Andy Jassy, who heads Amazon Web Services, would take over as CEO in the third quarter. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

How did that happen? Invention. Invention is the root of our success. We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.

I don’t know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazon’s, and I believe we are at our most inventive right now. I hope you are as proud of our inventiveness as I am. I think you should be.

As Amazon became large, we decided to use our scale and scope to lead on important social issues. Two high-impact examples: our $15 minimum wage and the Climate Pledge. In both cases, we staked out leadership positions and then asked others to come along with us. In both cases, it’s working. Other large companies are coming our way. I hope you’re proud of that as well.

I find my work meaningful and fun. I get to work with the smartest, most talented, most ingenious teammates. When times have been good, you’ve been humble. When times have been tough, you’ve been strong and supportive, and we’ve made each other laugh. It is a joy to work on this team.

As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition. Millions of customers depend on us for our services, and more than a million employees depend on us for their livelihoods. Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else. As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.

Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future. We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to. We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish. We serve individuals and enterprises, and we’ve pioneered two complete industries and a whole new class of devices. We are leaders in areas as varied as machine learning and logistics, and if an Amazonian’s idea requires yet another new institutional skill, we’re flexible enough and patient enough to learn it.

Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1.

Jeff