Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, Nov 2, 2021. Paul Ellis/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos will sell up to 50 million shares in the online retail and cloud services firm over the next one year, according to a company filing on Friday.
The securities are worth $8.6 billion at the current price of $171.8 share.
The sale plan, which is subject to certain conditions, was adopted on Nov. 8 last year and will be completed by Jan. 31, 2025, according to the company’s latest annual report.
Amazon shares ended nearly 8 percent higher on Friday after the e-commerce heavyweight reported higher-than-expected sales for the holiday quarter and its lucrative cloud business signaled early gains from AI-powered features.
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They had surged more than 80 percent last year amid a broader rally in tech stocks and outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Bezos founded Amazon as a bookseller in 1994. He stepped down as its chief executive and took over as executive chairman in 2021.
He is currently the world’s third richest person with a net worth of $185 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.