When Jeff Bezos was chief govt of Amazon, he took an arms-length stance towards the corporate’s affairs in Washington. He hardly ever lobbied lawmakers. He testified solely as soon as earlier than Congress, underneath the specter of subpoena.
Andy Jassy, Mr. Bezos’ successor, is attempting a distinct method.
Since changing into Amazon’s chief govt final July, Mr. Jassy, 54, has visited Washington at the very least 3 times to traverse Capitol Hill and go to the White Home. In September, he met with Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of workers. He has known as Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority chief, to foyer in opposition to antitrust laws and talked with Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, about Amazon’s new company campus within the state.
“He was very inquisitive,” mentioned Mr. Kaine, who met with Mr. Jassy on the Capitol in September and spoke with him by telephone final month. Mr. Jassy was diplomatic reasonably than out to “bowl you over” by “power of character,” Mr. Kaine mentioned, and got here ready with information of the lawmaker’s committee assignments.
Mr. Jassy’s actions in Washington are an indication of a brand new period taking form at Amazon. The manager, who joined the corporate in 1997 and constructed its Amazon Internet Companies cloud computing enterprise, adopted Mr. Bezos’ footsteps for years and was seen as one among his closest lieutenants. The succession final yr was largely seen as a continuation of Mr. Bezos’ tradition and strategies.
However Mr. Jassy has quietly put his personal imprint on Amazon, making extra modifications than many insiders and firm watchers anticipated.
He has drilled into key elements of the enterprise that Mr. Bezos pushed off onto deputies, particularly the logistics operations. He has admitted that Amazon overbuilt and wanted to chop prices, closing its bodily bookstores and placing some warehouse growth plans on ice. He has began a tumultuous overhaul of management. And whereas he has reiterated the corporate’s opposition to unions, he has additionally struck a extra conciliatory tone with Amazon’s 1.6 million workers.
The starkest distinction with Mr. Bezos might the brand new chief govt’s much more hands-on method to regulatory and political challenges in Washington.
Mr. Jassy has engaged extra with the scrutiny on Amazon’s broader position as an employer and in society, past serving clients, mentioned Matt McIlwain, a managing accomplice at Seattle’s Madrona Enterprise Group, which was an early investor within the firm.
“I believe these sorts of issues do matter extra to Andy,” mentioned Mr. McIlwain, who has recognized Mr. Bezos and Mr. Jassy for greater than 20 years. “Jeff has extra of a libertarian mind-set.”
Mr. Jassy’s efforts could also be born of necessity. Political leaders, activists and lecturers are taking a better have a look at Amazon due to its dominance. The corporate has responded by increasing its lobbying equipment in Washington, spending $19.3 million on federal lobbying in 2021, in contrast with $2.2 million a decade earlier, in line with OpenSecrets, which tracks affect in Washington.
Perceive the Unionization Efforts at Amazon
Its challenges are mounting. The Federal Commerce Fee, which is led by the authorized scholar Lina Khan, is investigating whether or not Amazon violated antitrust legal guidelines. Final yr, Mr. Biden threw his help behind Amazon employees who have been attempting to unionize; he has since hosted a union organizer from an Amazon warehouse within the Oval Workplace. And Congress might vote quickly on an antitrust invoice that may make it more durable for Amazon to favor its personal manufacturers over these provided by opponents on its web site.
An Amazon spokeswoman, Tina Pelkey, pointed to a earlier firm assertion that mentioned Mr. Jassy “meets with policymakers on each side of the aisle relating to coverage points that would have an effect on our clients.” The corporate declined to make Mr. Jassy out there for an interview.
Mr. Bezos’ ambitions in Washington was largely social. His possession of The Washington Put up introduced him to town, the place he purchased a mansion within the Kalorama neighborhood. However Amazon’s Washington workplace workers generally didn’t know when he was on the town. An Amazon staff led by Jay Carney, a former White Home press secretary, fought to insulate Mr. Bezos from the corporate’s critics.
Mr. Jassy — who was within the Republican Membership as an undergraduate at Harvard and has donated in recent times to business-friendly Democrats — made serving to Amazon navigate the regulatory panorama a precedence proper out of the gate. After Mr. Bezos introduced that he was stepping down as Amazon’s chief final yr, Mr. Jassy summoned a bunch of firm executives for a briefing on the antitrust struggle, two individuals with information of the gathering mentioned.
In August, Mr. Jassy appeared at a White Home summit on cybersecurity. In September, he crisscrossed Capitol Hill to fulfill with all 4 members of congressional management. He additionally known as on Democratic senators from Washington State, the place Amazon has its headquarters, and a Republican senator from Tennessee, the place the corporate has expanded its logistics operations.
Some Democrats pushed Mr. Jassy to let Amazon employees unionize and resist state abortion restrictions, mentioned an individual with information of the conversations, which have been reported earlier by Politico. Consultant Kevin McCarthy, the Republican chief, informed Mr. Jassy to deal with constructing merchandise and to remain out of contentious political and social points, an individual with information of the assembly mentioned.
A spokesman for Mr. McCarthy declined to touch upon the assembly.
That very same week, Mr. Jassy met with Mr. Klain on the White Home, two individuals with information of the assembly mentioned. They mentioned the state of the financial system and different points, one of many individuals mentioned.
A White Home official mentioned Mr. Klain frequently met with chief executives and labor leaders, largely by telephone however generally in particular person.
Amazon’s most instant regulatory risk is the proposed American Innovation and Selection On-line Act, which might cease giant digital platforms from giving their very own merchandise preferential therapy.
One of many invoice’s Democratic co-sponsors, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, met with Mr. Jassy in Washington in December and mentioned China’s affect over know-how. In one other assembly this yr in Seattle, Mr. Warner mentioned, he informed Mr. Jassy that he was involved about how Amazon might copy the merchandise of retailers that used its web site.
Mr. Jassy is “going to be any person who will most likely be extra engaged in these coverage disputes with D.C. than Bezos was as founder,” Mr. Warner mentioned.
Amazon has opposed the laws, arguing that the corporate already helps the small companies promoting merchandise on its web site. It has mentioned that if the invoice passes, it could possibly be pressured to desert the promise of fast supply on the coronary heart of its Prime subscription service. Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat behind the invoice, has known as the concept it will “outlaw” Amazon Prime a “lie.”
Mr. Jassy has additionally mentioned Amazon’s opposition to antitrust proposals with lawmakers and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, whom he knew from attending Harvard on the similar time, individuals aware of the matter mentioned. Mr. Jassy informed Ms. Raimondo about Amazon’s considerations with new antitrust rules in Europe that it believes unfairly goal its enterprise, one of many individuals mentioned. Ms. Raimondo has criticized the European legal guidelines, saying they’ve a disproportionate affect on U.S. tech firms.
A Commerce Division spokeswoman mentioned Ms. Raimondo supported the proposed U.S. antitrust laws and had spoken with Mr. Jassy. The spokeswoman declined to touch upon their conversations.
As Amazon faces the opportunity of a federal antitrust lawsuit and continued skepticism of its energy, Mr. Jassy could also be a potent advocate for the corporate, mentioned Daniel Auble, a senior researcher at OpenSecrets.
“Not many lobbyists would be capable of sit down with — and even get a name with — a lot of the members of congressional management in any respect,” he mentioned. “However after all the C.E.O. of Amazon can get all of them on the telephone.”
