Amazon reported $212.7 million in total compensation for Andy Jassy in 2021, but that figure was not $212 million in cash or a recurring annual salary. Nearly all of it was the grant-date accounting value of a restricted-stock award intended to cover compensation over multiple future years.
What made up Jassy’s $212.7 million reported total?
Amazon’s 2022 proxy statement reported Jassy’s 2021 compensation in its Summary Compensation Table as follows:
| 2021 compensation category | Reported amount |
|---|---|
| Salary | $175,000 |
| Stock awards | $211,933,520 |
| All other compensation | $592,649 |
| Total | $212,701,169 |
The figures are from Amazon’s 2022 proxy statement. The stock-award value made up almost all of the reported total; salary was $175,000.
Why the stock-award figure is not cash paid in 2021
Under the accounting rules Amazon identifies in its proxy, stock awards are reported at their aggregate grant-date fair value. That means the $211.9 million was the value assigned to the award when it was granted for disclosure purposes. It is not a statement that Amazon paid Jassy that amount in cash in 2021, nor does it establish what the shares were ultimately worth when they vested.
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The grant-year reporting can make a large award look like a single year’s pay even when its shares are scheduled to vest later. Amazon said the 2021 award was intended to represent most of Jassy’s compensation in the coming years. In its 2026 proxy, the company said more than 80% of the award’s shares are scheduled to vest from 2026 through 2031—years five through ten after the award. Amazon’s 2026 proxy statement describes the award as unique and connected to Jassy’s promotion to CEO.
Why later annual totals look much smaller
Amazon’s Summary Compensation Table reported the following totals for Jassy in later years:
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| Fiscal year | Summary Compensation Table total | Proxy source |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $1,357,764 | 2024 proxy statement |
| 2024 | $1,596,889 | 2025 proxy statement and 2026 proxy statement |
| 2025 | $2,069,861 | 2026 proxy statement |
These later totals are not directly comparable to the 2021 total without accounting for the large stock award recorded in its grant year. A reported total can reflect when an award was granted, while another compensation measure can reflect stock when it vests. Those are different accounting views of compensation, not interchangeable annual-pay figures.
What Amazon means by “realized compensation”
Amazon also describes “realized compensation,” a separate measure that adds salary and all other compensation to the value of stock that vested during the year. In its 2026 proxy, Amazon attributed the increase in Jassy’s realized compensation from 2024 to 2025 to stock-price performance, partly offset by a 5% decrease in the number of units vesting. That measure reflects vesting-year value; it should not be substituted for the Summary Compensation Table total or the grant-date value of an award.
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How Amazon describes its compensation approach
Amazon says its equity awards are periodic rather than annual and that it has no annual cash incentive program. The company also says its awards typically vest over five or more years on a back-end-weighted schedule, rather than evenly across the vesting period. These are Amazon’s descriptions of its compensation practices, not an independent assessment of them. The statements appear in its 2024 proxy statement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare executive compensation figures
Before comparing two executive-pay numbers, check which measure each one uses and whether both refer to the same fiscal year:
- Salary: cash salary reported for the year.
- Summary Compensation Table total: the SEC disclosure total, which can include stock awards at grant-date value.
- Grant-date stock-award value: the accounting value assigned when an award is granted, not necessarily cash received or the eventual value of vested shares.
- Value of stock vested: the value associated with shares vesting during the year.
- Realized compensation: Amazon’s measure combining salary and all other compensation with the value of stock vested that year.
- SEC “compensation actually paid”: another proxy-disclosure measure; do not assume it is the same as salary, grant-date award value, or Amazon’s realized-compensation measure.
For Jassy’s 2021 figure, the key distinction is that the headline total includes a large grant-year stock-award value. Calling it an annual salary—or treating it as cash received in 2021—misstates what Amazon’s filing reports.
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