Andy Jassy had a rough first year after succeeding Bezos as Amazon CEO

Andy Jassy celebrated his first year as Amazon CEO on Tuesday. However, a celebration may not be the keyword.

Andy Jassy , a 25-year veteran at Amazon, replaced Jeff Bezos on July 5, 2021. Days later, the stock hit a record high. Since then, it’s fallen more than 40%, including a 35% drop in the second quarter, the steepest drop since 2001.

As Amazon’s second CEO since Bezos founded the company in 1994, Jassi is staring at a macroeconomic storm. That is entirely out of his control. From the continuing fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, record inflation, and rising interest rates to supply chain curbs and the war in Ukraine. Amazon is facing increasing costs and lower consumer spending as investors fle technology stocks, which are also a recent bull market. Recently. .

But it’s not just economics. There’s also the risk of antitrust regulations as lawmakers pass landmark legislation to curb the power of Amazon and other tech giants. Dan Jassi led the labor dispute, culminating in April at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, to form the first union in the US. Amazon questioned the union’s efforts in court. As a result, several top executives have left the company.

When Jassy officially took over as CEO last July, Amazon’s business was more vital than ever. The company just posted the first quarter at $100 billion. Reflecting the pandemic-driven surge in e-commerce activity that has pushed Amazon to expand at breakneck speed.

The story develops quickly. Amazon is releasing some of the storage space it added during the pandemic. And after months of understaffing, the company is now overstaf across its fulfillment network as e-commerce cooling means many new hires are no longer needed.

Amid a slowdown in its core business, Amazon announced in April. That it had posted its weakest quarterly sales growth since the dot-com fiasco in 2001 and its first quarterly loss since 2015.