Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon, sold approximately $737 million worth of company stock last week, marking his first major divestment of Amazon shares this year.
According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bezos offloaded 3.3 million shares of Amazon.com Inc., generating $736.7 million in proceeds.
The transactions coincided with his lavish wedding festivities in Venice, Italy, where he married television personality and former news anchor Lauren Sánchez.
The sale was executed under a prearranged trading plan, known as a Rule 10b5-1 plan, which M Bezos adopted in March. The plan permits company insiders to sell shares at predetermined intervals to avoid accusations of trading on material nonpublic information. Under this particular plan, he is authorized to sell up to 25 million shares.
Amazon’s stock has risen over 8% since the trading plan was put into place, part of a broader rally in the U.S. markets. The company has not commented on the recent transactions.
Some context
At 61, Mr. Bezos remains one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, with a net worth estimated at $241.4 billion, placing him third on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Though he stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021, he retains a significant ownership stake and continues to fund personal ventures through periodic stock sales.
Among those ventures is Blue Origin, the private aerospace firm Bezos founded in 2000. In January, the company successfully launched its new orbital-class rocket after years of development. But despite the milestone, Blue Origin announced significant layoffs just weeks later, cutting around 10% of its workforce in an effort to manage costs.
Bezos has been a consistent seller of Amazon stock over the past two decades, having disposed of roughly $44 billion worth of shares since 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. He rarely buys back stock, with only one recorded purchase, a single share acquired in 2022.
What to know
Despite the recent sale, Bezos has also been active in philanthropy throughout 2025. So far this year, he has donated nearly 930,000 Amazon shares to nonprofit organizations. The gifts include a March contribution valued at about $60 million, followed by a $125 million donation in May and another $5 million in June. The beneficiaries were not publicly disclosed.
Much of Mr. Bezos’s charitable activity supports two primary initiatives: the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion commitment aimed at combating climate change, and the Bezos Day One Fund, which focuses on early childhood education and efforts to address homelessness. He has also drawn attention for awarding the $100 million “Bezos Courage & Civility Award,” previously granted to figures such as Dolly Parton and Van Jones.
