Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos already sold $6.7 billion worth of shares in his online retailer in May. This is evident from documents from the American stock market watchdog US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Bezos sold shares for 1.7 billion dollars in a final transaction. It concerns almost 522,000 pieces. Since May 2, he has sold a total of about 2 million shares in three tranches, worth 6.7 billion dollars.
Amazon’s founder sold the shares shortly after the release of good first-quarter results. The company continues to benefit from the increasing e-commerce in the times of corona. The stock rose 76 percent last year. Since the end of April, there has been a decrease of 7 percent.
The 57-year-old Amazon CEO has already sold large stock packages several times. He remains the largest individual shareholder with an interest of around 10 percent.
According to the Forbes and Bloomberg Billionaires Index charts, Bezos is the richest person on the planet, with an estimated wealth of approximately $188 billion.
Bezos will step aside as CEO in the third quarter. He will then become executive chairman.
It is not immediately clear what Bezos will do with the proceeds. However, he does regularly pump resources into his aerospace company Blue Origin and into the Bezos Earth Fund foundation. According to American media, the man has also been investing heavily in real estate for some time.
