Amazon.
com founder Jeff Bezos has sold $2 billion of the retail and cloud company’s stock, his first sale in more than two years.
The sale was disclosed late Friday night.
Bezos sold 12 million Amazon shares for $2.04 billion, an average price of $170.21 each, from Feb. 7 to 8.
According to a form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bezos sold the stock through a Rule 10b5-1(c) trading plan that Amazon had disclosed in its fourth-quarter 10-K form. The company noted that Bezos filed for the plan, covering up to 50 million shares, on Nov. 8, 2023.
Such trading plans are typically used by insiders to buy or sell shares without the whiff of bias from a company’s inner workings or deals in the offing. Insiders set the parameters, such as price and volume, and the transactions are automatically executed when the conditions are met.
After the latest sales, Bezos continues to own 976 million Amazon shares. He last sold stock in November 2021, at an average price of about $172.70, adjusted for a 20-for-1 stock split that was effective in June 2022.
Amazon stock is up 15% so far this year, compared with a 5.4% rise for the
S&P 500.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
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