Outlook Business Desk
Jeff Bezos, the world’s third-richest person and founder of Amazon, has sold company stock worth $5.7 billion since his June wedding. The sales were made under a 10b5-1 trading plan filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to Bloomberg.
All of Bezos’s stock sales were made under a 10b5-1 trading plan, a method often used by executives to avoid violating insider-trading laws. These plans automatically execute trades when preset conditions like price or timing are met.
SEC filings show the 61-year-old billionaire sold 4.2 million shares worth $954 million on July 23–24, 2025. Days earlier, he had sold 6.6 million shares for $1.5 billion. Around his June wedding, he sold shares worth $737 million. In 2024, he offloaded 75 million shares valued at $13.6 billion.
Since 2002, Bezos has sold over $50 billion worth of Amazon stock, Bloomberg data shows. Interestingly, his only purchase was in 2023, when he bought just one Amazon share for $114.77.
Despite all the selling, Bezos remains Amazon’s largest individual shareholder with over 8%—or 884 million shares. This stake still makes up the majority of his $252.3 billion personal fortune.
Bezos’s share sale followed a pre-approved 10b5-1 plan filed in March 2025, allowing sale of up to 25 million shares. Amazon’s stock gained over 8% during this phase, helped by broader market rallies.
Amazon shares soared 38% from April lows as investors looked ahead to its earnings. The optimism comes amid the company’s aggressive spending on artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.
Jeff Bezos has historically used the money from his Amazon share sales to fund his space company Blue Origin or support philanthropic efforts. In 2025 alone, he donated stock worth $190 million to various non-profits through multiple large gifts.
The biggest recipients of Bezos’s donations include the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion pledge to fight climate change, and the Day One Fund, a $2 billion initiative focused on helping homeless communities. In 2025, individual donations ranged from $5 million to $125 million.