Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, has sold approximately $2 billion worth of shares of the online retail giant.
Bezos sold around 12 million Amazon shares on Wednesday and Thursday, priced between $168 and $171 per share, as detailed in a document submitted to the stock exchange authorities and reviewed by AFP on Saturday.
An earlier stock market document, published on Wednesday, disclosed Bezos’s intention to sell 50 million shares of the company he founded 30 years ago in July, where he currently serves as chairman.
Forbes estimates the value of Bezos’s fortune to be $195.5 billion, making him the third richest man in the world. He trails behind French businessman Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX.
On 1 February, Amazon revealed its financial results, which significantly surpassed expectations. The company posted revenues of $170 billion – a 14% increase from the previous year – and a net profit of $10.6 billion, boosted by faster deliveries and a particularly successful holiday season.
Amazon’s share price surged more than 13% the following day on the New York Stock Exchange.
