Jeff Bezos, former Chief Executive Officer of Amazon.com, Inc., recently sold almost 12 million shares of his company stock for over $2 billion. He notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of this massive transaction, which involved the sale of nearly 12 million shares of common stock on February 7 and February 8. Additionally, Bezos indicated his plan to sell up to 50 million shares of Amazon stock, amounting to a market value of $8.4 billion, through a separate filing with the SEC. This plan, initiated on November 8, 2023, is expected to conclude by January 31, 2025.
Since 2002, Bezos has sold shares worth more than $30 billion, with around $20 billion of those sales occuring in 2020 and 2021. However, Bezos paused his stock-selling activities in 2022 following the introduction of a 7% capital gains tax by Washington state on stock or bond sales surpassing $250,000. Instead, Bezos shifted to gifting stock, including donations to non-profit organizations amounting to approximately $230 million in shares in November.
Bezos, relocating to Miami, Florida - a state without income tax or capital gains tax - managed to save around $140 million in taxation on his recent $2 billion sale that would have otherwise been paid to Washington state. With this move, Bezos stands to save at a minimum $610 million from the sale of 50 million shares throughout the next year.
While the exact reason for Bezos's choice to sell his shares remains unconfirmed, this momentous sale symbolizes a crucial shift in global wealth rankings. It has lessened the wealth gap between Bezos and Elon Musk, potentially positioning Bezos to overtake the Tesla CEO in the future.
