Bezos sold shares worth about US$8.5 billion over nine trading days in February — the first time he disposed of company stock since 2021. The additional sales would bring his total this year to roughly US$13.5 billion, according to calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bezos would still hold nearly 912 million shares, or about 8.8% of Amazon, following the latest sale. He’s the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of US$221.6 billion, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index, and also owns space-exploration company Blue Origin and the Washington Post.
A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment on the most recent sales.
Amazon’s shares closed Tuesday at US$200, the highest since its 1997 listing. The company’s stock has soared 32% this year with its cloud business expected to benefit from the growth of generative AI technology.
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Bezos, 60, announced in November that he was moving to Miami from the Seattle area. Washington state instituted a 7% capital gains tax in 2022 — something Florida doesn’t have — meaning Bezos’s relocation is likely saving him hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.
