Trending:

Jeff Bezos To Sell $5 Billion Worth of Amazon Shares Amid Record High

Jeff Bezos plans to sell 25 million Amazon shares worth $5 billion as the stock hits a record high. This follows February sales of $8.5 billion, bringing his 2024 total to $13.5 billion. Despite the sales, Bezos retains an 8.8% stake in Amazon and will relocate to tax-friendly Florida.

Arjit Saxena

Updated Jul 3, 2024, 21:03 IST

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Announces 5 Billion Stock Sell-Off (Image Source: Twitter, iStockphoto)

Jeff Bezos has announced plans to sell an additional 25 million shares of Amazon.com Inc., valued at $5 billion, coinciding with a new record high for the stock. The disclosure was made after markets closed on Tuesday, though the sales could begin immediately, according to the filing.

In February, Bezos sold shares worth approximately $8.5 billion over nine trading days, marking his first disposal of company stock since 2021. With the latest planned sales, his total for the year would reach around $13.5 billion, based on calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Despite these sales, Bezos will still retain nearly 912 million shares, or about 8.8% of Amazon. He remains the world’s second-richest individual, with a net worth of $221.6 billion according to Bloomberg’s wealth index. Bezos also owns the space exploration company Blue Origin and the Washington Post.

Amazon shares closed at $200 on Tuesday, the highest since the company’s 1997 listing. The stock has surged 32% this year, driven by expectations that Amazon’s cloud business will benefit significantly from the growth of generative AI technology.

Bezos, 60, announced in November that he is relocating to Miami from the Seattle area. Washington state implemented a 7% capital gains tax in 2022, which Florida does not have. This move is likely to save Bezos hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

(With Inputs From Agencies)

Latest News