Bezos to sell US$5 bil of Amazon as shares hit record high

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. 

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.