Jeff Bezos sold $2.5 billion in Amazon stock as he prepares to step down as CEO - and could sell more worth $6.54 billion

• SEC filings show Jeff Bezos sold 739,000 Amazon shares worth $2.5 billion this week.
• The sales were part of a pre-arranged trading plan under which Bezos could sell another 2 million shares.
• Amazon exceeded expectations in its first quarter earnings that were released last week.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sold around $2.5 billion in Amazon stock this week as he prepares to step down as the online retailer's CEO. Bezos sold 739,000 according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bezos still owns over 10% of Amazon and retains his position as the richest man in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

He also has the option of selling an additional 2 million shares, another SEC filing shows, which would be worth around $6.54 billion based on Amazon's latest share price of $3,270.54 as of market close on Wednesday. This would lower Bezos' share ownership to around 50 million in total, down from around 53 million at the end of 2020.

This week's stock sales were part of a pre-arranged trading plan, meaning the amount of shares and timing were agreed with the SEC in advance. These plans are designed to protect company insiders from inadvertently breaking the law by trading their shares when they possess undisclosed information that could impact share prices.

Additionally, they ensure that potential investors are not scared into thinking that stocks are overvalued, or bad news is imminent.

This is not the first time that Bezos has sold Amazon shares. In 2020, he made over $10 billion from selling some of his stake in the company.

Amazon exceeded expectations when it published its first quarter earnings last week. Revenue was up 44% to $108 billion in the first quarter and profits rose to $8.1 billion. Strong e-commerce and cloud service performance boosted the company and led it to its fourth record breaking quarter in a row.

Amazon stock initially spiked as much as 2% after the quarterly report, but share prices have fallen by almost 6% since.

In February, Bezos announced that he will be stepping down as the CEO of Amazon and will instead become executive chairman of the company in the third quarter of 2021. He founded the company in 1994 and developed it to become one of the biggest tech companies in the world.