Amazon.com Inc. founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos continues to divest himself of company stock, recently selling an additional $2 billion as part of a planned trading strategy. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals that Bezos sold 12 million Amazon shares across multiple transactions on Friday and Monday. This follows a similar sale of shares last week, according to a previous SEC filing.
The latest sales took place at prices ranging from $170.61 to $175.34.
Bezos’ Trading Plan and Past Sales
Bezos’ $4 billion worth of transactions are part of a 10b5-1 trading plan, which allows company insiders like board members and executives to sell stock under predetermined conditions. The plan, adopted by Bezos in November 2023, was disclosed by Amazon in its 10-K filing earlier this month.
Under the current plan, Bezos has the option to sell up to 50 million Amazon shares by the end of January 2025. Analysts have noted that Bezos tends to concentrate his sales over a few days rather than spreading them out over several weeks or months, based on his past selling activity.
These recent sales mark Bezos’ first since November 2021, following large-scale sell-offs of 60 million shares in that year and 80 million shares in 2020.
Insights into Executive Selling Behavior
Insider sales, including those executed through planned trading strategies, can provide insights for investors curious about where executives and board members are willing to sell. However, analyst Ben Silverman argues that Bezos’ previous selling activity did not accurately predict the subsequent performance of Amazon’s stock.
Amazon has not yet commented on these latest transactions.
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