Bezos sold nearly $2.5 billion worth of Amazon stock this week, the first major reduction in his holdings so far this year, following the sale of more than $10 billion worth of shares in 2020.
Bezos sold about 739,000 shares worth about $2.48 billion on Monday and Tuesday under a pre-arranged trading plan, according to a filing disclosed at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He plans to sell as many as 2 million shares, according to a separate disclosure filing.
Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon.com, owns more than 10 percent of Amazon, and those shares are the main source of his $191.3 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. If Bezos had not divorced MacKenzie Scott, he would have much more than he does now. At the time of their divorce, Scott acquired 4 percent of Amazon and quickly became one of the world’s foremost philanthropists.
In recent years, Bezos has accelerated the sale of Amazon stock. In February last year, he dumped nearly $4.1 billion worth of stock. And in November last year, Bezos sold more than $3 billion worth of Amazon stock.
In the 15 years since Amazon’s shares went public in 1997, Bezos has sold about one-fifth of his Amazon stake, pocketing about $2 billion. In recent years, the value of his holdings has surged, and he can now earn billions of dollars by selling just a small number of shares.
He has previously said he would sell about $1 billion in Amazon shares a year to fund his rocket startup, Blue Origin.
On Wednesday (May 5), Blue Origin announced that the company will send its first astronauts into space this summer.
Bezos also set aside additional funds for the Day One Fund, which he founded in September 2018 to provide education to low-income communities and address homelessness. Last November, the fund awarded $98.5 million to 32 groups.
In addition, Bezos has pledged to give $10 billion to the Bezos Earth Fund to help combat the effects of climate change.
As a result, these causes are expected to become more of a daily focus for Bezos once he steps down as Amazon’s CEO in the third quarter.
Amazon shares rose 76 percent in 2020 as a result of the Communist virus pandemic, which saw many people working from home, weakened demand for brick-and-mortar shopping and more active online shopping. A week ago, the company reported first-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
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