Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Sells $3 Billion Worth Of Company Shares
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has sold nearly 2 percent of his share in the company after it increased 75 percent in value in 2020.
According to Forbes, after taxes, Bezos is estimated to make $2.3 billion after selling the stock on Monday, November 2 and Tuesday, November 3.
Market Watch reported that recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed the sale was part of the Amazon CEO’s 10b5-1 trading plan that allows business owners to sell stock in accordance with insider trading laws.
Bezos’ latest sales amount roughly to 1.8 percent of his stake in the e-commerce company and equate to 100 million shares. Each of Bezos’ shares have a price range of $2,950 and $3,075 each following a successful year for Amazon as it was trading at a near all-time high in 2020.
The 55-year-old has not yet commented on why he decided to sell a portion of his stake in Amazon, but he regularly does this so that he can put additional funding toward other enterprises, including his Blue Origin Space Company. In the past, Bezos confirmed that he sells around a percentage of his share each year to put toward Blue Origin.
In February and August of 2020, the entrepreneur sold even more of his percentage in Amazon, and he has sold shares estimated to be worth more than $10 billion in this year alone.
In addition to his aerospace enterprise, Bezos has previously provided large donations to Earth Fund to help combat climate change with grants being provided to scientists, activists and non-profit organizations.
The multi-billionaire also donated $100 million each to the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Wildlife Fund. In 2018, he also funded charities that help homeless families and pledged money to start Montessori-inspired preschools for low-income neighborhoods.
Despite selling a significant part of his percentage of Amazon, Bezos remains the world’s richest person. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows Bezos at the top of the daily ranking, and he is estimated to be worth $191 billion after more than doubling his income since the beginning of 2020.
Along with his ownership of Amazon and Blue Origin, as well as his charitable donations, Bezos has shown an interest in purchasing news outlet CNN. As reported by The Inquisitr, business reporter Charles Gasparino from Fox News speculated that Bezos was looking to add to his ownership of The Washington Post, although AT&T — the organization that owns CNN — refused to comment on the rumor.
