Jeff Bezos sells Amazon shares worth $2 billion

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has sold around 12 million shares of the online retail and cloud services firm for roughly $2 billion, as revealed by a company filing on Friday. This follows his announcement earlier this month of a plan to sell up to 50 million shares over the next year.

The sale occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, February 8th and 9th, as per the filings. Bezos had previously disclosed plans to sell his shares on February 2nd, potentially capitalizing on a surge in stock prices that brought him close to reclaiming the title of the world's richest person.

According to Amazon's most recent annual report, the sale plan was first approved on November 8, 2023, subject to a few changes, and is anticipated to be finished by January 31, 2025. The founder of Amazon has sold shares worth over $30 billion since records first started in 2002, with a total of $20 billion traded in 2020 and 2021. His main focus has been on stock gifts; in November alone, non-profit organisations received donations totaling around $230 million.

In 1994, Bezos started Amazon as an online retailer. He left his position as CEO in 2021 and became executive chairman. Based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is presently the second richest person in the entire globe. He now has a net worth of $199.5 billion as of Friday, a considerable rise of $22.6 billion this year.

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