Jeff Bezos Sells $4 Billion of Amazon Stock

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has recently sold an additional $2 billion worth of the company's stock, bringing his total sales for the past week to over $4 billion.

In a filing late on Tuesday, it was revealed that Bezos sold 12 million shares between Friday and Monday. The selling price ranged from $170.61 to $175.34.

These sales are part of Bezos' previously announced plan to sell a total of 50 million shares by January 2025. The timing of these sales proved to be advantageous as Amazon's stock fell over 2% on Tuesday, causing the company to lose its position as the fourth most valuable U.S. company to chip maker Nvidia.

In its fourth-quarter 10-K filing earlier this month, Amazon disclosed that Bezos had adopted a trading plan in November to satisfy Rule 10b5-1(c). These plans are commonly used by insiders to buy or sell shares when certain predetermined conditions are met, ensuring there is no suggestion of bias from the company's internal operations.

According to the filings, Bezos sold 12 million Amazon shares on February 7th and 8th, which were disclosed in a filing on Friday. He then followed up with an additional 12 million shares, disclosed in last night's filing. With these recent sales, Bezos has now sold almost half of the projected share amount.

Jeff Bezos Sells Amazon Stock Amidst Market Turbulence

In a move that has caught the attention of investors and market analysts, Jeff Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon and world's third richest person, sold a portion of his company stock this month. This comes after his last stock sale in November 2021, where he sold at an average price of around $172.70 per share, accounting for a 20-for-1 stock split in June 2022.

Even though Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in July 2021 on the company's 27th birthday, he still maintains his position as the largest shareholder. The decision to sell shares was predetermined, but the timing couldn't be ignored. It aligns with the recent posting of earnings and the ongoing strong rally of Big Tech companies and the broader S&P 500, which have resulted in a remarkable 69% increase in Amazon's stock over the past year.

However, the stock market experienced a significant selloff on Tuesday due to higher-than-anticipated inflation data from the latest consumer price index. This unexpected inflation has pushed back the predicted timeline for the Federal Reserve to commence interest rate cuts.

Despite this market turbulence, Amazon's stock held firm with a 0.9% increase ahead of Wednesday's opening. Other tech giants such as Microsoft (+1%), Alphabet (+0.7%), Nvidia (+1.8%), and Apple (+0.3%) also experienced positive growth.

It remains to be seen how this recent stock sale by Bezos will influence investor sentiment and Amazon's future trajectory. As developments unfold, experts will closely monitor the market for any potential impact.