Jeff Bezos to sell 25 million Amazon shares, equivalent to €4.6 billion

Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos will be selling an additional 25 million shares worth nearly €4.6 billion ($5 billion).

This news comes after the company registered record-high stocks of €184.40 ($200.43) on Wednesday. Amazon’s share price has surged over 30 per cent this year, significantly outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s four per cent gain.

In February, Bezos had already sold shares worth €7.8 billion following an 80 per cent rally in the stock during 2023.

He hadn’t sold any shares since 2021 but had given away some shares as part of his philanthropy.

Just last month, Amazon was valued at $2 trillion (€1.8 trillion), edging closer to top companies like Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, which have already reached the $3 trillion (€2.8 trillion) mark.

Mr Bezos still remains the largest shareholder with around 912 million Amazon shares or 8.8 per cent of the outstanding stock.

He stepped down from his role as CEO in 2021 but remains the company’s Executive Chair.

Now, according to the Forbes Billionaires list, Mr Bezos is the word’s second richest man with an estimated net worth of around €196.8 billion.

Amazon was set up in 1994 by Mr Bezos from his garage in Washington, United States.

Despite starting out as an online store for books, Amazon expanded exponentially and now ships practically everything across the globe.

Furthermore, Amazon has a number of subsidiaries which include Amazon Web Services, Zoox, Kuiper Systems, Amazon Lab123, Ring, Twitch, IMDb and Whole Foods Market.

The company was originally incorporated under the name Cadabra Inc. Just a few months later, the name was changed to Amazon after a lawyer mistook the name for cadaver.