(Bloomberg) — Jeff Bezos has sold 12 million shares of Amazon.com Inc. this week, marking the first time the billionaire has made such a move since 2021. The sales were executed on Wednesday and Thursday and resulted in a profit of just over $2 billion, as stated in a filing by Amazon.
On Feb. 2, Amazon announced that Bezos intends to sell up to 50 million shares of Amazon within the next 12 months. This decision comes amid a surge in the company’s stock value, inching Bezos closer to potentially becoming the world’s richest individual. As of Friday, Bezos’s net worth has increased by $22.6 billion this year, reaching $199.5 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In previous years, Bezos has sold over $30 billion in Amazon shares, including around $20 billion from 2020 to 2021. During this time, he has mainly focused on donating stocks, including shares valued at approximately $230 million that were gifted to nonprofit organizations in November. Amazon, represented by a spokesperson, declined to provide further comments on the matter.
–With assistance from Spencer Soper.
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