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Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos has profited from the e-commerce giant’s rally this year, regulatory filings showed, offloading nearly 24 million shares worth more than $4 billion this month.
The sale of the shares took place over the course of four trading sessions days. The billionaire, who had not sold Amazon (AMZN) shares since 2021, now holds over 964 million shares of the company.
The moves come nearly two weeks after Amazon (AMZN) revealed that Bezos had adopted a trading plan that would allow him to sell up to 50 million shares, or about $8.6 billion, before January 31, 2025.
Interestingly, Bezos adopted the business plan on November 8, just days after announcing he would move base from Seattle to Miami. While he said the move was meant to be closer to his parents and his Blue Origin spaceflight company’s operations in Florida, the timing suggests it could have been for tax reasons.
Washington had imposed a 7% capital gains tax in 2022 on capital gains over $250,000 for those who reside there. Florida, on the other hand, has no state capital gains tax.
That means that for the 50 million shares Bezos plans to sell over the next year, he will likely save at least $610 million in taxes, according to CNBC calculations.
Amazon (AMZN) had rose by 13.4% this year until Monday (Feb. 12), the last day Bezos sold shares. The escort slipped 2.2% on Tuesday.
Bezos is currently the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $193 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, behind only Elon Musk.