Jeff Bezos to sell 50 million shares of Amazon by Jan.31 next year

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos will sell 50 million shares in the online retail and cloud services firm over the next one year, according to a company filing on Friday.

The securities is worth $8.6 billion at the current price of $172.13 a share. The sale plan was adopted on Nov. 8 last year and it will be completed by Jan. 31 next year, according to the company’s latest annual report.

Amazon shares were up 8% on Friday after the e-commerce heavyweight reported higher-than-expected sales for the holiday quarter and its lucrative cloud business signaled early gains from AI-powered features.

Bezos founded Amazon as a bookseller in 1994. He stepped down as its chief executive and took over as executive chairman in 2021.

He is currently the world’s third richest person with a net worth of $185 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.