Jeff Bezos sells Amazon shares for $8.6 billion
The founder of the 'shop that sells everything' launches a 50 million share divestment plan
1' min read
1' min read
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will sell 50 million shares in the e-commerce and cloud services giant over the next year, according to the company. The stock is worth $8.6 billion at the current price of $172.13 per share. The sale plan was adopted on 8 November last year and will be completed by 31 January next year, according to the company's latest annual report.
Amazon's shares rose eight per cent on Friday, after the e-commerce heavyweight reported higher-than-expected sales for the holiday quarter and its lucrative cloud business reported early gains thanks to artificial intelligence-powered features.
Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994. He stepped down as CEO and took over as executive chairman in 2021. He is currently the third richest person in the world with a net worth of $185 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
