Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos sold 12 million shares of Amazon stock this past week, his first major sell-off of company shares since 2021. The stock sales occurred over Wednesday and Thursday and amounted to just over $2 billion in proceeds based on current market prices, according to a regulatory filing submitted by Amazon.
The transactions mark a notable move from Bezos, who has rarely sold Amazon shares in recent years outside of philanthropic gifts. While he remains Amazon’s largest individual shareholder with an approximately 10% stake after the sales, some analysts believe the sell-off signals that Bezos aims to diversify his broader investment portfolio now that he has stepped away from day-to-day leadership at the company he founded. Additionally, you can also read about Discover If Meta Transforms Into a Value Stock.
Earlier this month, Amazon disclosed that Bezos intends to sell up to 50 million total shares, worth over $8 billion at the time of the announcement, during the course of 2023 as part of a predetermined trading plan. This would represent less than 2% of Bezos’s total Amazon holdings. With the e-commerce giant’s stock price climbing over 20% to start 2023, the planned sell-off allows Bezos to capture significant gains from Amazon’s continued success in a year where most major indices have declined or remained flat.
The additional capital also provides ample funds for Bezos to shift toward his longtime passions in space exploration, climate technology, and philanthropic pursuits. Bezos, whose net worth sits at approximately $117 billion even after this week’s Amazon stock sale, has previously liquidated over $20 billion worth of his Amazon stake in 2020 and 2021 combined.
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