Amazon Gives Incoming CEO Andy Jassy Stock Awards Worth More Than $200 Million

Incoming Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been given stock awards valued at well over $200 million based on the tech giant’s four-figure stock price at present.

Jassy has been granted 61,000 shares of Amazon common stock as of July 5, when he takes over the helm from founder Jeff Bezos. The stock awards will vest over the next 10 years, the company disclosed Friday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Amazon shares closed Friday at $3510.98.

More from Variety

• 'The Tomorrow War' Director Chris McKay on Selling the Film to Amazon and His Hopes to Make 'Nightwing'

• Damming the Stream: Global Governments Try to Set Boundaries for Streaming Giants. Will They Work?

• 'Watchmen' Alum Janine Nabers Sets Amazon Overall Deal

Jassy was named as Bezos’ successor as CEO in February. As of next week, Bezos will shift to executive chairman of the e-commerce and web services giant that he founded in 1994. Jassy is an Amazon veteran who signed on in 1997, the year the company went public. He helped form the company’s profitable Amazon Web Services division in 2003; he’s served as CEO of the unit since 2016.

In 2020, Jassy’s total compensation from Amazon was $35.8 million, most of which came from a $35.6 million stock award. SEC rules require that executive compensation tallies include the total value of the stock at the share price on the day of the grant, even though shares typically are not immediately available as liquid capital and vest over years.

Jassy’s elevation marks a new chapter for the corporate behemoth with an astounding market cap of $1.7 trillion. Jassy’s star has been tied to the AWS cloud-computing division, which has become Amazon’s most profitable business segment. For the full year 2020, AWS pulled in net sales of $45.3 billion, up 30% on an already massive revenue base. It also delivered an operating margin of 30%, compared with operating margin of 5.9% for the company overall.

Amazon’s corporate transition also comes as Bezos turns his eye toward intergalactic pursuits through his Blue Origin space exploration firm. Bezos is set to take part in the company’s first space flight, set for July 20 via the New Shepard spacecraft named in honor of legendary Mercury astroanut Alan Shepard, who was the first American to ride a rocket outside of Earth’s atmosphere and into space in May 1961.

Best of Variety

• What's Coming to Disney Plus in July 2021

• Everything Coming to Netflix in July 2021

• The Best Movies on Netflix

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.