Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has offloaded more than 3.3 million shares worth ~$737 million, continuing a trend of tech execs taking advantage of near-record market highs while their companies trade at a premium.
The move forms part of a pre-arranged trading plan established in March, which permits Bezos to divest up to 25 million shares through to May 2026.
The executive chairman, who stepped back from the chief executive role in 2021, has been systematically reducing his Amazon holdings for several years whilst maintaining his position as the company's largest individual shareholder.
This latest disposal follows a similar arrangement in February 2024 that saw him sell up to 50 million shares through January of this year.
Bezos has previously indicated plans to sell roughly $1 billion in Amazon stock annually to fund Blue Origin, his space exploration venture, alongside donations to Day 1 Academies - his nonprofit chain of Montessori-inspired preschools expanding across multiple states.
The timing of this stock sale follows closely on the heels of Bezos' lavish Venice wedding to Lauren Sanchez, a three-day affair that reportedly cost around $50 million and drew protests from local residents.
With a net worth of ~$240 billion, Bezos ranks third on Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, trailing behind Tesla's Elon Musk at $363 billion and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg at $260 billion.
The great tech cash out continues
Bezos certainly isn't alone in his stock-selling spree.
This year so far has seen JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon selling shares this year, while Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell recently made headlines with a staggering $1.2 billion stock disposal, whilst the Walton family offloaded approximately $1.5 billion worth of Walmart shares.
NVIDIA insiders have sold billions worth of shares this year too, while Oracle CEO Sasfra Catz was also among the top 10 billionaires to sell-off during FY 2025.
Even Palantir's billionaire founders have joined the exodus, with co-founder Peter Thiel selling roughly a third of his stake last year as company insiders cashed out over $4 billion.
