Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Joao da Silva
- Role, Economic journalist
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced he will sell an additional 25 million shares in the tech giant, worth almost $5bn (£3.9bn).
The move comes after the company’s stock price hit a record high on Wednesday.
It was the first time since 2021 that Mr. Bezos had sold Amazon shares.
The company’s shares have risen more than 30% this year on expectations that growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technology will boost profits at its cloud computing business.
Last month, Amazon’s market valuation surpassed $2 trillion for the first time.
However, this figure remains lower than that of other major tech companies such as Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, which have all crossed the $3 trillion mark.
Amazon reported strong quarterly results in late April, proving that the company’s bet on AI was paying off.
Mr Bezos stepped down as the company’s chief executive in 2021 and is currently its executive chairman and remains its largest shareholder.
He founded Amazon in 1994 in a garage in Bellevue, Washington, when the Internet was still in its infancy.
The company started as an online bookseller, offering the world’s largest collection of e-books.
Since then, Amazon has grown into one of the world’s leading online retail and cloud computing companies.
He also founded the rocket company Blue Origin, which sent six customers to the edge of space in May.
Mr Bezos is the second richest person in the world, according to Forbes’ billionaires list, with an estimated net worth of around $214 billion.
