Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sells £4bn worth of shares as share price hits record high

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced plans to sell £4 billion worth of shares as the stock price hits a record high.

In a document filed Tuesday evening, the billionaire announced he would sell an additional 25 million shares.

The tycoon, who also owns The Washington Post newspaper, has not disclosed why he is selling Amazon shares.

This came as the stock hit a new all-time high of $200.43 during the trading session.

After the sale, Bezos would own approximately 912 million Amazon shares, or 8.8 percent of the group.

Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021, has reduced his stake in the online retailer.

So far this year he has sold shares worth an estimated £10.5 billion.

This included the sale of Amazon shares worth an estimated £6.5 billion in February.

Bezos, 60, founded Amazon in 1994 and grew the company from an online bookstore into a global marketplace.

Amazon reported upbeat first-quarter results in April, as the company benefited from strong sales and the rise of artificial intelligence.

All of this has seen shares rise by more than a third since the start of 2024.

Bezos has already given away shares worth around £190 million as part of his charitable efforts, most recently in 2022.

Since stepping back, Bezos has been focusing on a space project called Blue Origin.

In October, he said he was moving from Seattle to Miami to be closer to his parents and Blue Origin’s operations. “Blue Origin has to move much faster. And that’s one of the reasons I left Amazon a couple of years ago,” he said in December.

The venture also brings him into conflict with tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading the space race with his company SpaceX.

In May, Blue Origin launched a crew of six to the edge of space.

Bezos is the second richest man in the world, with an estimated fortune of £168 billion.

Musk is worth £195 billion.