On June 27, the same day that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez exchanged their wedding vows, the billionaire made headlines for a different reason: he sold millions of shares in the online giant Amazon. This transaction was part of a broader strategy to offload stock holdings, as revealed by an SEC filing accessed by Fortune. On this notable day, Bezos sold over 3.3 million shares, fetching prices between $221 and $223 per share. This significant sale alone netted him a staggering $735 million, according to calculations by Fortune.
While many newlyweds might anticipate a dip in their financial resources during their honeymoon, Bezos experienced a remarkable increase in his wealth. Following his wedding, he continued with a series of six additional Form 4 filings between late June and late July. From July 3 to July 7, he sold another 3 million shares at around $224 each. Subsequently, on July 8 and 9, he offloaded an additional 500,000 shares at similar prices. By mid-July, between the 11th and 14th, Bezos sold 6.7 million shares at prices ranging from $224 to $226. On July 15, he sold 733,000 shares for $227 each, and between July 21 and 22, he offloaded another 6.6 million shares, priced between $227.5 and $229.5. The most recent transactions on July 23 and 24 also saw him sell over 4.1 million shares at prices ranging from $228 to $233.
In total, this extensive selloff has netted Bezos approximately $5.7 billion, as estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. One might assume that such a massive offloading of shares would significantly diminish Bezos's stake in Amazon, which boasts a market capitalization of nearly $2.5 trillion. However, the SEC filings indicate that he still retains around 884 million shares in the company, placing him on par with some of Amazon’s largest institutional shareholders. For instance, reports from Yahoo Finance identify Vanguard as the top institutional shareholder, owning 832 million shares.
With Amazon's stock having surged by 26% over the past year and approximately 46% over the last five years, Bezos's net worth now stands at an impressive $252 billion, making him the third-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
It’s essential to note that Bezos is not personally orchestrating the weekly sales of millions of shares. The SEC filings indicate that these stock sales are executed under a SEC Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which was established in early May. This rule allows corporate officers of publicly traded companies to sell shares in a structured manner, reducing the risk of insider trading allegations. The 10b5-1 plan includes several stipulations, primarily that a predetermined formula—not an individual—dictates the number, price, and timing of the trades. Additionally, a third party, who cannot be swayed by the client, is employed to carry out the sales.
Interestingly, Bezos’s SEC history also reveals that his stock sales are not solely for personal financial gain; they also serve philanthropic purposes. On the same day his selloff commenced, Morgan Stanley filed a note on behalf of Bezos via a Form 144 filing. This filing indicated that between May 13 and June 3, 2025, Bezos contributed 633,812 shares to non-profit organizations, which may have subsequently sold those shares in the three months leading up to the Form 144 submission. However, the specific organizations that received these shares were not disclosed.
