Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ total annual stock sales have topped $10 billion for the first time.
Bezos just sold more than $3 billion in stock, according to regulatory filings made public Wednesday. He sold nearly 1 million shares of Amazon stock at prices ranging from $2,951 per share to $3,079 per share, the filings show.
This past August, the Amazon CEO sold more than $3 billion in stock, and another $4 billion earlier this year.
Bezos said in 2017 that he was selling $1 billion a year to fund his Blue Origin space venture, but he has been increasing the size and frequency of the stock sales. He sold $2.8 billion worth of Amazon stock a year ago.
Amazon and Blue Origin declined to comment on the latest stock sale.
Amazon’s stock price has nearly doubled mid-March as millions of customers rely on the e-commerce giant amid the pandemic for online shopping, cloud computing, and more. Last week the company posted a record $96.1 billion in revenue, up 37% from the year-ago quarter, with profits far ahead of Wall Street expectations at $6.3 billion.
Amazon’s market capitalization is now $1.6 trillion, alongside Microsoft and behind Apple as the world’s valuable publicly-traded companies. Shares were up more than 6% Wednesday.
Significant stock sales by top corporate executives are often made based on a schedule set out in advance.
Bezos’ net worth has now reached $191 billion, up more than $76 billion this year, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Bezos still owns more than 10% of Amazon’s shares.
Under his divorce settlement with MacKenzie Scott last year, the Amazon founder received 75% of the couple’s Amazon shares and retained voting authority for remaining shares. Scott received a 4% stake in Amazon as part of the deal.
Following the divorce, Scott — who changed her name — signed The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away the majority of her fortune to charity. In July she listed 116 non-profit organizations that will receive funding as part her pledge.
Bezos has stepped up his philanthropy in recent years, including a $10 billion climate change initiative and the $2 billion Day 1 Fund, which supports homeless services and early childhood education.
