Jeff Bezos is about to sell 5 billion Amazon shares

In a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said he plans to sell 25 million shares of the company. At current prices, this is equivalent to about $5 billion.

Amazon shares hit a record high of $200.40 on July 3. They closed at $197. Since the beginning of the year, the e-commerce giant’s shares have risen more than 30%, much higher than the DJIA’s 4%. Last year, they rose 80%.

Amazon shares have surged on the back of strong recent earnings. The company has been riding the global AI wave in the first quarter. Operating profit jumped more than 200% year-over-year to $15.3 billion. Revenue also rose 13% to $127.4 billion.

After the sale, Bezos still owns 912 million units, equivalent to 8.8% of outstanding shares.

This year, he has been selling Amazon stock in quick succession. In February, Bezos began selling for the first time in three years. In a matter of weeks, the Amazon founder sold tens of millions of shares, earning more than $8 billion.

The Amazon founder has sold more than $30 billion worth of the company’s shares since 2002. In 2020 and 2021 alone, he sold about $20 billion worth of shares.

The move has served a variety of purposes, from funding aerospace company Blue Origin to purchasing the $500 million Koru superyacht. In May, Blue Origin flew a six-person crew to the edge of space for the first time in two years.

Bezos is now the second richest person in the world, with a fortune of $214.4 billion, according to Forbes. At the top is still Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with a net worth of 248 billion USD.