Jeff Bezos to sell Amazon stock worth about $5 billion after shares hit record high

The proposed sale of 25 million shares was disclosed in a notice filed after the market closed Tuesday. The stock hit a record high of $200.43 during the session. It has risen more than 30% this year, outpacing the 4% gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Once the sale plan is complete, Bezos would own about 912 million Amazon shares, or 8.8% of the shares outstanding.

He sold about $8.5 billion worth of shares in February after the stock price rose 80% in 2023.

Bezos is the world’s second-richest person, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $214.4 billion. He is also the founder of space company Blue Origin, which sent a six-person crew to the edge of space in May.

Amazon posted upbeat first-quarter results in April as the Seattle-based tech giant rode the wave of artificial intelligence. The company recently replaced Adam Selipsky as head of its cloud computing unit with insider Matt Garman.

Editor’s Note: Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar