Jeff Bezos' ownership stake in Amazon has fallen below 10% for the primary time within the firm's historical past — marking a milestone within the billionaire's decades-long relationship with the e-commerce large he constructed from a Seattle storage.
The Amazon founder disclosed in a Tuesday securities submitting that he now holds roughly 9% of the corporate's excellent shares after unloading greater than 100 million shares over the previous yr.
A yr in the past, Bezos managed about 10.1% of the corporate, in keeping with regulatory data. When Amazon went public in 1997, he owned greater than 43%.
Bezos' newest divestments are a part of a broader stock-selling spree that started after he stepped down as CEO in 2021 and handed day-to-day operations to successor Andy Jassy.
At the moment, he nonetheless held about 14% of the corporate, filings present.
In February, Bezos filed to promote 25 million shares — a transfer that may internet roughly $5 billion primarily based on Amazon's inventory value on the time.
A subsequent submitting in August revealed plans for one more 25 million-share sale price an estimated $5.4 billion.
He additionally donated greater than 500,000 Amazon shares to charity in latest months, in keeping with SEC disclosures.
Amazon's inventory has soared 38% since late April, giving Bezos a really perfect window to money out parts of his holdings.
The growth got here as buyers wager closely on the corporate's synthetic intelligence push and cost-cutting drive beneath Jassy.
Even factoring within the sell-offs, Bezos stays one of many world's richest people, with Bloomberg placing his net worth at about $240 billion. That trails the fortunes of solely Tesla CEO Elon Musk and French luxurious titan Bernard Arnault.
Bezos' exit from Amazon's nook workplace has freed him to deal with different ventures, together with The Washington Put up, which he purchased in 2013, and his aerospace firm, Blue Origin.
Each have undergone administration shakeups in latest months as he seems to be to reboot efficiency.
At a New York Instances convention final yr, Bezos mentioned “turning round The Washington Put up” was amongst his high priorities.
“I've a bunch of concepts, and I'm engaged on that proper now,” he mentioned.
“We saved The Washington Put up as soon as — this would be the second time.”
Underneath Bezos, the Washington Put up has undergone a sweeping overhaul this yr, merging key newsroom divisions, slicing about 4% of its employees and shifting to a digital-first method amid falling subscriptions.
Bezos additionally refocused the opinion part round themes of free markets, patriotism and private liberty — prompting each management shakeups and subscription cancellations.
The 60-year-old mogul — who married former TV anchor Lauren Sánchez in a star-studded Venice marriage ceremony in June attended by Oprah Winfrey and Leonardo DiCaprio — has turn out to be an everyday presence in Los Angeles social and enterprise circles.
Bezos has recurrently used inventory gross sales to fund his area ambitions for Blue Origin and for different personal tasks. He beforehand mentioned he intends to provide away most of his wealth throughout his lifetime.
His ex-wife, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, has additionally been trimming her Amazon stake.
A Tuesday regulatory submitting viewed by Bloomberg confirmed that Scott minimize her holdings by about 42% — roughly $12.6 billion — over the previous yr.
Scott, who walked away with 4% of Amazon of their 2019 divorce, now owns about 81 million shares. The 55-year-old has donated greater than $19 billion to charitable causes because the cut up.
Bezos' gradual pullback from Amazon contrasts sharply together with his early years, when his stake represented practically half of the corporate. He serves as government chairman and retains important affect whilst his possession stake approaches single digits.
When Amazon went public at $18 per share in 1997, it raised about $54 million and immediately made Bezos a multimillionaire.
His holdings soared in worth by means of the dot-com growth and subsequent waves of growth that remodeled the web bookseller right into a trillion-dollar international powerhouse.
After 27 years on the helm, Bezos stepped apart as CEO in July 2021 and handed management to Jassy — a longtime lieutenant who led Amazon Internet Companies.
Since taking on, Jassy has made his personal mark by increasing the corporate's sports-rights portfolio, together with a blockbuster Thursday Night time Soccer deal and a brand new pact with the NBA anticipated to start later this month.
Bezos' share gross sales this yr have been executed by means of prearranged 10b5-1 buying and selling plans, a mechanism designed to forestall insider buying and selling by scheduling transactions upfront.
Neither Bezos nor Amazon instantly responded to Put up requests for remark Wednesday.
