Jeff Bezos cashes out billions in Amazon shares — again

• Jeff Bezos filed a plan on Tuesday to sell 25 million Amazon shares worth nearly $5 billion.
• Bezos’ move follows Amazon stock hitting a record of $200.43 and a $2 trillion market cap.
• Bezos, the world’s second-richest person, still holds over 900 million Amazon shares.

Jeff Bezos is cashing out some of his Amazon shares after the stock hit an all-time high this week.

The Amazon founder filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to sell 25 million Amazon shares worth close to $5 billion.

Bezos filed the notice after Amazon stock prices hit $200.43. Last week, Amazon’s market cap reached $2 trillion for the first time. The company stock was up 32% year to date through Tuesday.

Bezos will still have over 900 million Amazon shares after this share sale, Bloomberg reported, so he’s nowhere near handing off his stake in the company. But it’s yet another big sale he’s made this year.

He sold about 1.1 million Amazon shares at the end of May, which he said would be to fund his nonprofit preschools. The billionaire sold 431,426 shares on May 29 and 667,260 shares on May 30, which were valued at about $117 million at the time.

Bezos also made a big sale earlier this year in February, selling about 50 million Amazon shares worth roughly $8.5 billion. The February sales were the first the billionaire made of Amazon stock since 2021 when he stepped down as CEO of the company.

Since leaving the top job at Amazon, Bezos has focused on philanthropy and his rocket company, Blue Origin. He still holds about 8.8% of Amazon and is the company’s executive chairman.

Bezos’ net worth is about $222 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That places him as the second-wealthiest person in the world, behind Elon Musk.