Amazon's Jeff Bezos sells $2B in stock
Amazon shares, nearing $3,300, are little changed in 2021
Evolution VC Partner founder Gregg Smith provides insight into ‘smashing’ Big Tech earnings.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has offloaded 739,000 shares of the company's stock this week, worth about $2 billion.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 197.12 | -1.26 | -0.64% |
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According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the transactions were made as part of a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan. In addition, Bezos has the option to sell an additional 2 million shares, according to a separate filing.
A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment on the sale.
The stock sale comes a week after the e-commerce giant's first quarter sales surged 44% to $108.5 billion, beating the company's own projections and as he prepares to step down from his role as CEO in the third quarter of 2021 and transition to executive chairman. Taking over the helm will be Andy Jassy, the chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services.
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The Amazon founder previously sold about $10 billion worth of shares in 2020, including $3 billion worth of stock in August and $1.8 billion worth of stock in February 2020. As part of his divorce settlement with MacKenzie Bezos in 2019, he also transferred 19.7 million Amazon shares worth about $36 billion, giving her a roughly 4% stake in the company.
Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP File
In addition, Bezos said in 2018 that he would use about $1 billion in Amazon stock per year to help fund Blue Origin’s efforts. The aerospace company recently announced a July 20 launch date for its first crewed flight to space. The company plans to auction off one seat on its New Shepard rocket.
He also committed $2 billion to the Day One Fund, which focuses on helping homeless families and creating preschools for low-income communities. In 2019, the fund awarded $98.5 million to 32 recipients from 23 states.
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Bezos, the richest man in the world, continues to hold 10% of Amazon shares. Bezos owned about 14% of the company's shares as of February, according to Amazon's 2021 proxy statement.
In April, his net worth topped $200 billion, according to calculations by Forbes.