Amazon will record the grant of 61,000 shares on July 5, the
filing said. That's the date Jassy succeeds Jeff Bezos in the online retailer's
first CEO transition since its founding in 1994. As of Friday's close, those
shares are worth about $214 million.
The award's exact value will depend on how the shares are
trading when they pay out in future years, encouraging Jassy to grow a company
that's worth $1.77 trillion today. Though Amazon did not disclose the vesting
schedule, its previous stock grants have not vested right away.
Jassy's base salary has been $175,000, filings show. On top
of that, he has $45.3 million in previously awarded stock that is vesting this
year and had $41.5 million vest in 2020.
The annual median pay at Amazon was $29,007 last year across
full, part-time and temporary employees worldwide, excluding Bezos, whose base
salary was $81,840. The founder's outsized stake in Amazon has made him the
richest person in the world.
Jassy's vested equity was still smaller than payouts to
rival CEOs in the technology industry. Microsoft's Satya Nadella had $215
million in stock vest for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, on top of a base
salary of $2.5 million, for instance. Apple's Tim Cook had $281.9 million in
stock vest, according to its 2021 proxy.
Some governance experts have criticized such pay schemes
because they reward executives irrespective of whether they achieve corporate
milestones. Stock grants can be more appropriate for startups than for
established companies like Amazon, said, John C. Coffee Jr., director of the
Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School.
"It is rewarding compensation a little
prematurely," Coffee said. "It's like winning the prize for the race
before the race is won."
Amazon plans to stop its prior biannual stock grants to Jassy, aiming for the latest award to account for most of his compensation in the coming years, a person familiar with the matter said.
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