Tags: jeff bezos | amazon | stake | stock | sale

Jeff Bezos' Record $4.1 Billion Amazon-Stock Sale Ends Years of Restraint

Jeff Bezos' Record $4.1 Billion Amazon-Stock Sale Ends Years of Restraint
Jeff Bezos (David Ryder/Getty Images)

Tuesday, 11 February 2020 08:22 AM EST

Jeff Bezos’ stake in Amazon.com Inc. barely budged over the past decade. That’s started to change.

Bezos sold 2 million Amazon shares (AMZN), worth $4.1 billion, as part of a pre-arranged trading plan between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, according to regulatory filings. That’s the largest seven-day selldown by any executive tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which began in 2012.

WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum sold $4 billion of Facebook Inc. shares in 2016, but that took months. Laurene Powell Jobs divested more than $6 billion of Walt Disney Co. shares (DIS) in 2016, though it wasn’t part of a trading plan.

For Bezos, it’s a sharp reversal from years of relative restraint even as the value of his Amazon stake eclipsed 12 figures in 2017.

His increased pace of sales this year might be a result of his 2019 split from MacKenzie Bezos. The pair divorced in the state of Washington, where Amazon is based and the couple lived. It’s a community property state, meaning all assets and debt acquired during a marriage “will be divided equitably by the court if the couple cannot negotiate an agreement,” according to the website of McKinley Irvin, a family law firm in the region.

Retained Stake

The terms of their divorce -- at least those publicly disclosed in stock filings and a single tweet by MacKenzie Bezos in April -- show that Jeff Bezos retained 75% of the couple’s stake in Amazon as well as interests in the Washington Post newspaper and rocket company Blue Origin. The pair may have agreed to a cash payment in return for such an uneven split, according to divorce lawyers.

“It’s possible the agreement provided for some cash transfer,” said Peter Walzer, founding partner of law firm Walzer Melcher and a past president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “Cash is king.”

Bezos, 56, has plenty of other expenses. As well as supporting Blue Origin to the tune of $1 billion a year, his lifestyle has become increasingly glamourous. He owns properties on both coasts and 170,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of desert scrub in Texas. He’s been house hunting for a mega-mansion in Los Angeles, according to the New York Post, and has reportedly started making waves in the art world.

Whatever the reason for his sales, the proceeds still make up just a fraction of his wealth. The divestiture amounted to less than 4% of his Amazon holdings, which had a value of $116 billion on Friday.

© Copyright 2026 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.


StreetTalk
Jeff Bezos's stake in Amazon.com Inc. barely budged over the past decade. That's started to change.
jeff bezos, amazon, stake, stock, sale
413
2020-22-11
Tuesday, 11 February 2020 08:22 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 
Get Newsmax Text Alerts
TOP

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
MONEYNEWS.COM
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
NEWSMAX.COM
MONEYNEWS.COM
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved