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Jeff Bezos’ shadow-adviser job vacant — list of past shadow advisers – Business Insider


  • Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos doesn’t have a “shadow” adviser anymore, Business Insider has learned.
  • The shadow position is highly coveted within Amazon because the person gets to accompany Bezos everywhere for 18 to 24 months under the goal of learning about all aspects of the company.
  • The vacancy suggests Bezos may be spending more time on non-Amazon issues, which would make the shadow position less relevant.
  • Past shadows include some of the most successful people at Amazon, including AWS CEO Andy Jassy.
  • Click here to read more stories on BI Prime.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos no longer has a “shadow” adviser, a highly coveted role within the company from which some of Amazon’s most senior executives have been groomed. 

The position, formally titled technical adviser to the CEO, entails following the billionaire founder around for a year or two with the goal of learning about all parts of the company. The job has been empty since earlier this month, after Wei Gao, the most recent shadow, moved on to become vice president of grocery tech, product, and supply-chain management, Business Insider has learned.

The shadow position doesn’t show up under Bezos’ team anymore, according to an internal organizational chart seen by Business Insider.

Amazon’s spokesperson declined to comment.

The change comes at a time when Bezos is facing unprecedented scrutiny over Amazon and his personal life. Just this week, The Guardian reported Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in hacking Bezos’ phone. Part of the reason for the hack was to influence the Bezos-owned Washington Post’s coverage of the Arab country, two UN experts said in a statement. At the same time, US presidential candidates and lawmakers from around the world are attacking Amazon from all angles, criticizing the company’s growing market power and aggressive business practices.

The decision to leave the shadow position vacant suggests Bezos may be spending more time on non-Amazon issues. The shadow accompanies Bezos everywhere he goes, including all meetings. But with less of his time spent at Amazon, Bezos may have found it difficult to accommodate the position. Bezos is increasingly devoting more time to some of his other personal projects, such as his space-exploration company Blue Origin.

It’s unclear if the change is permanent or if Bezos plans to hire a new shadow. The vacancy, however, is unusual — in the past, shadow transitions had typically happened quickly, with almost no gap in between the personnel change.

Bezos has always had a shadow since the late 1990s, but he formalized the position in 2003 when Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, took the role, according to a 2013 Bloomberg report. Bezos first got the idea for a shadow from Intel, where the position has been in place for years, the report said.

Most of Amazon’s top executives have their own shadows. For example, Jeff Wilke, the CEO of worldwide consumer, lets former Marketplace manager Yunyan Wang shadow him, while hardware boss Dave Limp hired Jon Kirk, the director of Echo and Alexa, as his technical adviser last year. Meanwhile, Jay Carney, Amazon’s press and policy boss, doesn’t have one.

Previous shadows of Bezos have gone on to run important parts of Amazon. Besides Jassy, executives leading Amazon’s India business and its cashierless Go stores have filled the position in the past.

Here are the seven most high-profile executives who were previously shadow advisers to Bezos:



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