KEY POINTS
- The billionaire founder's plan was included in a company filing released by Amazon on Friday
- The shares would be worth about $8.6 billion at the stock's current $171.8 share price
- The report came as Amazon shares climbed by about 8% on Friday
Business magnate Jeff Bezos is selling as many as 50 million shares of Amazon.com Inc. over the next year, according to a company filing on Friday.
Amazon said in the annual report that its founder, currently serving as the executive chair of the e-commerce heavyweight, had adopted a trading plan to sell up to 50 million shares over a period ending Jan. 31, 2025.
The shares would be worth about $8.6 billion at the stock's current $171.8 share price.
The annual report published Friday also came a day after Amazon reported a record holiday shopping quarter, pushing Amazon shares up about 8% on Friday.
The billionaire founder was once the richest person in the world but now sits comfortably at the third position on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $185 billion. Since 2021, he has not reached No. 1, which is a position currently occupied by Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Bezos is now closer to potentially reclaiming the title of the world's richest person as the gap between him and Musk reduces as a result of Tesla facing challenges while Amazon shares rebound.
Amazon shares drastically fell to $84 a share in December 2022, leading to aggressive cost-cutting measures that included mass layoffs.
Shares of the e-commerce giant have since bounced back and are starting to see benefits from their AI-powered features as well.
