Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has sold another major chunk of shares of the e-commerce company. According to a recent regulatory filing (seen by GeekWire), Bezos has sold over $3 billion worth of Amazon shares. The latest stock sale brings the total for the year to over $13 billion worth of Amazon stock that he has already sold.
The recent sale involved over 16 million shares and coincided with Amazon’s stock price approaching $200 per share, a level it last reached in July when Bezos made another major stock sale. This price point represents the highest valuation for Amazon’s stock since its 1997 listing on the NASDAQ.
While the reasons for Bezos’s continued stock sales remain unclear, they come as Amazon navigates a dynamic market and invests in new ventures. Bezos remains one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, despite his ongoing divestment of Amazon shares.
Amazon boosts Jeff Bezos’ net worth
Amazon’s stock prices also jumped 7% this week following the release of its third-quarter earnings report, which surpassed market expectations. This performance adds to the company’s strong stock growth over the past year, with its shares being up more than 40%.
The surge in Amazon’s stock price has also boosted the net worth of founder Jeff Bezos, who currently ranks second (after X owner Elon Musk and before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $222 billion. Bezos’s wealth has increased by $42.8 billion year-over-year, largely driven by the strong performance of Amazon’s stock.
Over the years, Bezos has sold Amazon stock to fund various projects and initiatives, including his space venture, Blue Origin. In 2018, he also established the $2 billion Bezos Day One Fund, which supports homeless families and preschool education. As of a February proxy statement, Bezos held around 10.8% of Amazon’s outstanding stock. He remains Amazon’s chairman, yet his focus has now shifted towards Blue Origin.