Amazon Inc. is one of the most lucrative modern businesses, and the income of its CEO Andy Jassy is indicative of the company’s financial success.
According to Yahoo! Finance, Jassy earned $212 million in total compensation in 2021. This is despite the fact that Jassy has been in the role of CEO for less than a year, after taking the reins from Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos in July.
A securities filing from Amazon revealed Jassy earned a base salary of $175,000, which was unchanged from the year prior. The rest of his compensation came largely from a stock away he received after becoming CEO – he received 61,000 shares in the company in total.
Considering Bezos is one of the richest people in the word, Jassy’s high paycheck isn’t as surprising. Jassy is currently the highest paid executive at Amazon.
But despite stepping down as CEO, Bezos still made a sizeable profit from his involvement with Amazon last year. Bezos, who remains executive chairman of Amazon Inc., earned a little over $81,000 as part of a custom salary. In addition, he earned $1.6 million in other compensation, which was largely from his shares in the company.
Next to Jassy, the second highest paid executive in the company was Adam Selipsky, who took over as chief of the Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit, a role Jassy previously filled. Selipsky made $81 million in 2021.
The third highest paid executive was Worldwide Consumer CEO Dave Clark, whose total compensation as $56 million.
Although Amazon executives enjoy multi-million dollar compensation packages, the company has received flack for its considerably lower wages for the average employee.
As per Business Insider, the average salary of an Amazon employee was $29,007 in 2020, which only represented a $159 increase from the year prior. The company’s recent securities filing shows this increased to $32,855 in 2021.
However, Yahoo Finance! notes this is still lower than the average salary for a full-time employee in the United States, which reports is approximately $39,677.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Amazon expressed commitment to its employees to raise wages, especially in light of the inflated costs of living in recent times. While confirming stock unites and bonuses would remain in tact, the company promised to increase the “overall compensation ranges for most jobs globally,” Retail Wire reports.
The company is also reportedly changing its policies around promotions. Previously, employees would have to wait until the annual compensation review to discuss a raise. But Amazon says it will soon allow awards mid-year one a case-by-case basis.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Business Insider, Retail Wire,
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