Multi-billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has sold more of his shares in Amazon, bringing the total value of sales in recent days to more than $4bn ($3.2bn).
The technology giant said in regulatory filings that its founder has now sold 24 million shares this month.
Mr Bezos, who is Amazon’s executive chair, last sold Amazon shares in 2021.
Earlier this month, Amazon said he was planning to sell 50 million shares over the next year, which would be worth about $8.4bn at current prices
Mr Bezos will not owe any taxes on his gains after moving to Miami in Florida from Seattle in the state of Washington last year.
When he announced the move, it prompted speculation over whether it was because of a potential tax bill he would have faced in Washington after the state approved a new tax on large stock sales.
Gains above $250,000 from the sale of stocks or other long term investments, are taxed at 7% in Washington state. Last year, it brought in an extra $900m to state coffers.
If Mr Bezos still lived in Seattle he would owe around $280m on the $4bn worth of stock he has sold.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in November that his parents had recently moved back to Miami where he spent some of his childhood and that he wanted to be close to them and to his Blue Origin space project, which was “increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral”.
“Lauren and I love Miami,” he wrote on Instagram, referring to his fiancée Lauren Sánchez.
“For all that, I’m planning to return to Miami, leaving the Pacific Northwest,” he added.
Mr Bezos is one of the richest people in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of more than $190bn.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Decided To .
Amazon declined to comment. The billionaire, who founded Amazon in 1994, has taken a step back from running the sprawling company to pursue other ventures, including his space group Blue Origin. “Blue Origin needs to be much faster. And it’s one of the reasons that I left my role as the CEO of Amazon a couple of years ago,” he told researcher and podcast host Lex Fridman in December. Blue Origin has trailed behind billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
In 2022, a Blue Origin rocket that was not carrying passengers failed shortly after its launch, after which the company suspended launches. Last year, Blue Origin announced that Amazon’s outgoing head of devices Dave Limp would take over as chief executive, and the company completed a successful space mission in December.
Bezos — who owns The Washington Post newspaper and runs the Bezos Earth Fund philanthropic group — has also recently drawn attention for reportedly relocating from Seattle to Miami, and for a luxurious lifestyle of yachts and private jets that contrasts with the more frugal profile he maintained while overseeing Amazon’s rapid expansion.
