In a company filing on Friday, it was disclosed that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, divested approximately 12 million shares of the online retail and cloud services company, generating approximately $2 billion. The transactions occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, as outlined in the filings. Bezos, the CEO of rocket venture Blue Origin, has launched a $10 billion fund to fight climate change. He often sells Amazon shares yearly to give liquidity to his other ventures. In November, he laid out a plan to sell up to 50 million shares in the firm over the next year.
The filing said the shares were sold in five blocks, ranging from over 1 million to more than 3.2 million. Bezos still owns more than 976 million shares in the firm, which makes him its largest individual shareholder. The stock has surged since a slump last year, reflecting worries over weakening demand for e-commerce and macroeconomic uncertainty.
Bezos has been donating to nonprofit organizations and has pledged to give away most of his fortune in his lifetime. However, he is investing more heavily in space projects and philanthropy. He also reportedly plans to move from Seattle to Miami, which could allow him to avoid paying a capital-gains tax in Washington state.
Investors have been concerned that the steep drop in Amazon’s stock price will reduce the value of its assets, which could hurt the firm’s earnings and ability to borrow funds. But the company’s revenue has been growing, and it’s forecast to report a record profit this week despite falling sales in its core North American market.
In the latest filing, Bezos indicated he was selling the shares to “pursue opportunities in technology and venture investments that make long-term economic sense.” The company is developing augmented reality glasses and drones and has bought stakes in several companies, including a maker of medical devices and an artificial intelligence platform.
Other Amazon executives are also planning to sell some of their shares, Azernews reported, citing annual reports published on the corporation’s website for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Seven of the company’s high-ranking insiders have taken up trading plans that will see them offload a combined total of about 440 thousand shares in the firm.
Amazon, which started in a garage in Seattle, is now one of the world’s largest companies. It has helped make Bezos the second-richest person by net worth, behind Tesla Motors Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index puts Bezos’s net worth at $200 billion.
