Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks to the media on the company’s sustainability efforts in Washington on September 19, 2019.
Eric Baradat | AFP | Getty Images
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos this week has sold more than $3.1 billion worth of shares in his company, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission compiled by OpenInsider.
The sales were part of a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan, according to the filings. Earlier this year, Bezos sold more than $4.1 billion worth of shares in the company. The sales this week bring his total cash out in 2020 to slightly more than $7.2 billion so far. He still owns more than 54 million shares, worth more than $170 billion, making him the richest person in the world.
By way of comparison, Bezos sold $2.8 billion worth of shares in 2019. Bezos has previously said he’s selling about $1 billion of Amazon stock a year to fund his space exploration company, Blue Origin.
Representatives from Amazon weren’t immediately available to comment on the latest sale.
The sales come one week after Bezos testified before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, which is concerned about the growing power of large tech companies, alongside Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet.
Last week, Amazon also reported its second-quarter results, blowing away analyst expectations after the coronavirus pandemic fueled online shopping.
Amazon shares are up 73% for the year, including a 2.1% gain on Wednesday.
