Jeff Bezos has offloaded Amazon shares worth $12 million this week. According to recent stock market filings, the sales took place on Wednesday and Thursday and netted just over $2 billion. Notably this is the first time billionaire Jeff Bezos has sold the company’s stock since 2021.
Amazon disclosed on 2 February that Jeff Bezos plans to sell as many as 50 million shares of Amazon over the next 12 months, potentially cashing in on a stock surge that’s put him within reach of becoming the world’s richest person.
Jeff Bezos‘ fortune has climbed $22.6 billion this year to $199.5 billion as of Friday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bezos sold some 12 million Amazon shares, at between $168-171 per share, according to documents sent to stock market regulatory authorities Friday.
A previous stock market document, out Wednesday, reported his intention to sell, next July, 50 million shares of the group he founded 30 years ago, and of which he is today executive chairman.
Bezos‘s fortune is estimated by Forbes at $195.5 billion, making him the third richest man on the planet, behind Frenchman Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH group and Elon Musk, the boss at Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX.
The Amazon founder has sold over $30 billion in shares since records going back to 2002, including about $20 billion combined in 2020 and 2021. He has primarily been gifting stock, including shares worth roughly $230 million that were given to nonprofit organizations in November.
Amazon most recently released financial results February 1, which far exceeded expectations. Tech behemoth, Amazon, achieved a sales turnover of $170 billion and a net profit of $10.6 billion, driven by faster deliveries and a particularly successful holiday season.
Amazon stock jumped more than 13 percent the next day on the New York Stock Exchange.
(With agency inputs)
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Published: 11 Feb 2024, 06:31 AM IST