Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced plans to sell another 25 million shares of the technology giant, estimated to be worth nearly $5 billion (£3.9bn).
This decision follows the company’s stock market value hitting a record high on Wednesday.
This move comes after Bezos’s February announcement that he would sell Amazon shares worth approximately $8.5 billion. That sale marked his first divestiture of Amazon shares since 2021.
Amazon’s shares have surged over 30% this year, driven by growing optimism that the rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technology will significantly enhance earnings for its cloud computing division.
Last month, Amazon’s stock market valuation surpassed the $2 trillion mark for the first time, although it still trails behind other tech giants such as Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft, all of which have valuations exceeding $3 trillion.
The company’s robust quarterly earnings report at the end of April highlighted the benefits of Amazon’s strategic investments in AI, which are evidently paying off.
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive in 2021, currently serves as the executive chair and remains the largest shareholder of the company.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 in a garage in Bellevue, Washington, during the early days of the internet. Initially an online bookseller claiming to offer the world’s largest collection of ebooks, Amazon has since evolved into one of the world’s premier online retail and cloud computing companies.
Apart from his ventures with Amazon, Bezos also founded Blue Origin, a private aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company. In May, Blue Origin successfully sent six customers to the edge of space, marking another milestone for the company.
According to the Forbes Billionaires list, Bezos is the world’s second richest person, with an estimated net worth of around $214 billion.