Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to 25 million Amazon shares

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos plans to sell as many as 25 million shares of Amazon.com Inc. over the next 13 months, potentially cashing out as the world’s largest online retailer grapples with uncertainty over tariffs.

Bezos adopted what’s known as a 10b5-1 trading plan on March 4, which entitles the Amazon co-founder to sell until May 29, 2026, according to a Friday filing. At Friday’s share price, the total value would be about $4.8 billion.

Amazon declined to comment beyond the filing.

Amazon expects operating profit in the current quarter to be weaker than Wall Street anticipated, the company said in its earnings release Thursday, citing “tariff and trade policies” and “recessionary fears.” Earlier this week, it said it wouldn’t display the cost of US tariffs on products after President Donald Trump called Bezos to complain about the idea.

Amazon’s share price is down 22% from a record high on Feb. 4, compared with the 6% decline of the S&P 500 Index during that period.

Bezos, 61, is the world’s second-richest person with a fortune of $211.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He routinely uses 10b5-1 trading plans and sold over $8.5 billion of Amazon stock through one in February 2024.