Jeff Bezos to sell 50 mn Amazon shares in next 12 months

San Francisco, Feb 3 (IANS) Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is planning to sell at least 50 million company shares in the next year, the media reported.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Amazon, where Bezos currently serves as executive chair, said its billionaire founder had a trading plan for selling a maximum of 50 million shares.

The sales will occur "over a period" ending January 25 of next year "subject to certain conditions,” the filing read, reports Fox Business.

Bezos, who recently turned 60, owns nearly one billion shares of Amazon stock. Seven other top Amazon insiders took up trading plans for offloading Amazon shares, according to the SEC filing.

However, Bezos’ involved the largest amount of shares. Bezos’ stake in Amazon stocks make up a major portion of his $193.3 billion personal fortune.

Net sales for Amazon increased 14 per cent to $170 billion in the holiday quarter that ended December 31, 2023, compared with $149.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Net income increased to $10.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with $0.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. Amazon Web Services (AWS) segment sales increased 13 per cent year-over-year to $24.2 billion.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the past holiday season was "record-breaking." "This Q4 was a record-breaking Holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon,” said Jassy. “As we enter 2024, our teams are delivering at a rapid clip, and we have a lot in front of us to be excited about," he added.