Mike Blake/Reuters; Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
- Andy Jassy was surprised when Jeff Bezos asked him to be CEO of Amazon, Vanity Fair reports.
- "I wasn't anticipating it, I wasn't clamoring for it, I loved my current job," Jassy said.
- Bezos stepped down from the helm of Amazon on July 5, 2021, 27 years after founding the company.
Andy Jassy was surprised when Jeff Bezos approached him about becoming the next CEO of Amazon.
That's according to a new profile of Jassy by Vanity Fair's Nick Bilton, which is a look into the life of Amazon's second-ever CEO. Jassy took the helm of Amazon in July, taking the reins from Bezos at a time when Amazon is bigger — and more closely scrutinized — than ever.
Jassy was the driving force behind the soaring success of Amazon's cloud unit, AWS, and after Amazon retail boss Jeff Wilke announced he was leaving the company in early 2021, the only obvious replacement for Bezos. Still, Jassy told Vanity Fair, he didn't see it coming.
"I was surprised," Jassy said. "I wasn't anticipating it, I wasn't clamoring for it, I loved my current job, but I was obviously flattered and excited by the prospect."
Jassy said Bezos reached out to him in January 2021 asking if they could speak by phone. When Jassy called him, Bezos said that he was "contemplating stepping away from the CEO role," Jassy recounted to Vanity Fair.
"I'm happy to keep doing the role, but I'll only stop doing it if you're excited about being the next CEO and my successor," Bezos said, according to Jassy.
Jassy asked to think about it, but a few days later, he let Bezos know he was in.
The changeover happened quickly. On February 2, just as Amazon was set to announce its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2020, Bezos published a blog post announcing that he would step down as CEO in the third quarter of 2021 and transition to the role of executive chairman, where he'll focus on "new products and early initiatives." He officially left the position on July 5, the same day he founded Amazon 27 years ago.
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