JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has shared an interesting anecdote from late 1999. Dimon revealed that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos offered him a job at Amazon and he nearly left Wall Street behind to take it. However, ultimately Dimon decided to not accept the offer, citing the significant personal and professional shift it would have entailed. Speaking at a recent podcast, Dimon revealed about his meeting with Bezos in Seattle. He mentioned that during that time Bezos was looking for a company president for its e-commerce platform — Amazon.
When JP Morgan Chase CEO received job offer from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Speaking on the Acquired podcast recently, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon revealed a moment he shared with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 1999. Dimon recalled that he met Bezos in Seattle over a cup of coffee. During the meeting Bezos offered him a job at Amazon. Dimon added that at that time Bezos was looking for a president for his e-commerce platform — Amazon. Dimon light-heartedly joked about the lifestyle change, envisioning a life where he’d “never wear a suit again” and “live on a houseboat,” but admitted that uprooting his young family and abandoning his career in finance felt like “just a bridge too far.”Despite their friendship, Dimon declined the offer. The seasoned banker had valid reasons for his hesitation. In late 2000, Amazon’s market capitalisation was a mere $5 billion, a stark contrast to its current valuation as a $2.4 trillion.
What happened next
After returning home, Dimon started seriously working on his next move and he fielded offers from global investment banks, insurance agent AGI via a call from Hank Greenberg and event Home Depot, whose founders pitched him despite Dimon admitting he’d never stepped inside one of their stores.But the call that stuck came from a headhunter representing Bank One. It was a Chicago-based lender and was struggling to build business. Despite a warning from analysts Mike Mayo that “even Hercules couldn’t fix it,” Dimon saw an opportunity to rebuild. Dimon invested $60 million which was half of his net worth into One Bank stock on day one vowing to “go down with the ship or up with the ship.”His decision to stay in banking led to his eventual rise as CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
JP Morgan Chase CEO’s investment mantra
Jamie Dimon also shared his investment mantra. He says, “Don’t blow up.” With this principle in mind he guided JPMorgan’s risk culture. In another interview, Dimon talked about buying his first stock at age 14 in 1972—only to watch the market plunge 45% within two years. That early lesson, he said, taught him to “always factor the invisible risks.”
