Jeff Bezos will be replaced by who? Meet Andy Jassy, Amazon’s new millionaire CEO who took a punt investing in new NHL team Seattle Kraken

Mar 1 , 2021

Jeff Bezos will be replaced by Andy Jassy. Photos: Shutterstock, CNBC

Known as ‘Jeff Bezos’ protégé’, Amazon’s incoming CEO Andy Jassy graduated from Harvard University and is married to Eddie Bauer designer Elana Rochelle Caplan

As well as founding Amazon Web Services, he has voiced his support of the Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter, and has also spoken up for LGBT workers

When billionaire and richest person in history Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO earlier this month, he handed the reins over to Andy Jassy. Who, you might ask? And, after the mail-order year we’ve all had, how could he possibly take the e-commerce giant to new heights?

The New Yorker was born on January 13, 1968, and grew up in Scarsdale. Jassy was an Ivy League student, graduating with honours from Harvard University, before joining collectibles company MBI as a project manager.

After five years in the workforce he went back to school, later gaining an MBA at Harvard Business School, and was also involved with his alma mater’s school publication, The Harvard Crimson, where he served as its advertising manager. After graduating a second time his future course was set when he joined Amazon in 1997.

And outside work? In 2018, Jassy took a bet by investing in future NHL competitors Seattle Kraken – a newly founded team who will enter the 2021-22 league – and today also serves as charter school chairman of the city’s Rainier Prep.

Here are some of the most important things you might want to know about the so-called “Jeff Bezos protégé”.

He’s a close friend of Bezos

Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy. Photo: @vandypop/Instagram

Many wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Jassy became a close friend of Bezos after all the years he’s already spent with Amazon. In the early days, Jassy followed Bezos from board meetings to phone calls, and was seen as the “brain double” for Bezos who challenged the CEO’s thinking, according to Ann Hiatt, who was Bezos’ executive assistant from 2002 to 2005.

In his farewell letter, Bezos commended Jassy, saying: “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.”