Jeff Bezos sells $5 billion worth of Amazon stock

After selling about 50 million Amazon shares in February, Jeff Bezos said he plans to sell millions more.

Bezos, the e-commerce giant’s founder and current executive chairman, announced that sell another 25 million shares Amazon shares — worth about $5 billion — in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public late Tuesday.

According to the documents, the sale could have taken place as early as Tuesday, when Amazon reached a record high of $200 for the action.

Bezos began selling Amazon stock this year, selling 12 million shares between February 7 and February 8another 12 million between February 9 and 12, another batch of 12 million between February 13 and 14, and finally around 14 million between February 15 and 20.

In nine trading days, Bezos sold a total of 50 million shares, worth about $8.5 billion. Including this latest announcement, Bezos’s total stock value this year is about $13.5 billion.

The deals are part of a trading plan approved by Bezos in November that called for the sale of about 50 million by January 31, 2025disclosed in SEC filings. Bezos has not previously sold any Amazon shares since 2021.

The adoption of the plan coincided with Bezos’ announcement that same month that he was moving from Seattle to Miami.

Bezos announced his move in an Instagram post in November in which he announced that he was returning to the city where he went to high school to be closer to his parents and the operations of his aerospace company, Blue Origin.

If he still lived in Washington State, where a 7% capital gains tax was introduced in 2022, and upheld in NovemberThese transactions would cost Bezos nearly $945 million.

Bezos didn’t mention Washington state’s new capital gains tax as a reason for his move. But while living there, the billionaire did not sell any Amazon shares in 2022 or 2023 after the tax was introduced, Fortune reported.