Jeff Bezos unloads $3B worth of Amazon stock in latest sale

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is selling more than $3 billion worth of the company’s shares, according to a new regulatory filing revealed Friday, in his latest stock sale this year.

Bezos had already sold more than $13 billion worth of Amazon stock in 2024.

The latest sale of more than 16 million shares came as Amazon’s stock once again nears $200 per share. It surpassed $200 in July, when Bezos sold a separate tranche of shares — that was the stock’s highest price since Amazon’s 1997 NASDAQ listing.

Amazon beat estimates for its third quarter earnings on Thursday. Shares were up 7% in trading Friday. Amazon stock is up more than 40% in the past 12 months.

Bezos is No. 2 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $222 billion, up $42.8 billion year-over-year on the strength of Amazon’s stock.

Bezos has used Amazon stock sales over the years to fund projects and initiatives including his Blue Origin space venture. He also launched a $2 billion Bezos Day One Fund in 2018 that focuses on homeless families and preschool education.

Bezos controlled about 10.8% of Amazon’s outstanding stock, as of a February proxy statement. 

He remains chairman of Amazon, though his focus has shifted to Blue Origin.

Bezos made headlines last week for his decision to end The Washington Post’s tradition of endorsing candidates for president and reportedly spike an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Bezos, who owns the newspaper, was under intense backlash following the announcement, which came just 11 days before the election between Harris and former President Donald Trump.

In a column in the Post published Monday evening, Bezos said he wished the decision to not endorse any candidate had been made sooner, “in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it.” And he said the timing of a meeting last week between Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp and Trump was scheduled without Bezos’ knowledge.

Bezos announced in November 2023 that he was leaving his longtime hometown of Seattle, where Amazon is based, and moving to Miami.

The relocation sparked questions about Washington state’s capital gains tax, passed in 2021, which imposes a 7% tax on any gains of more than $262,000 from the sale of stocks and bonds. Florida does not have a capital gains tax.

In an Instagram post, Bezos said he wanted to be closer to his parents and Blue Origin space venture in Florida. He did not mention taxes.

Before this year, Bezos’ most recent Amazon stock sale was in 2021.