Jeff Bezos’s honeymoon plans involved a $5.7 billion Amazon share selloff
Key Takeaways
Despite the large, prearranged sales, Bezos still holds roughly 884 million Amazon shares and maintains a net worth of $252 billion.
Article Overview
Quick insights and key information
5 min read
Estimated completion
investment
Article classification
July 28, 2025
10:37 AM
Fortune
Original publisher
Finance·WealthJeff Bezos’s honeymoon plans involved a $5. 7 billion Amazon selloffBy Eleanor PringleBy Eleanor PringleReporterEleanor PringleReporterEleanor Pringle is an award-winning reporter at Fortune covering news, the economy, and personal finance, given current economic conditions
Nevertheless, Eleanor previously worked as a correspondent and news editor in regional news in the U, given the current landscape
She her journalism training with the Press Association after earning a degree from the University of East Anglia
SEE FULL BIO Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos and spouse Lauren Sanchez Bezos during their wedding festivities in Venice, Italy
MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP - Getty Images)Jeff Bezos sold over $5 (this bears monitoring). 7 billion in Amazon stock between late June and July—including $735 million on his wedding day to Lauren Sanchez—under a pre-arranged trading plan
Despite the large selloff, Bezos still holds roughly 884 million Amazon s and maintains a net worth of $252 billion, given the current landscape
Recent SEC filings also revealed donations of over 600,000 s to undisclosed nonfits
However, Jeff Bezos’s lavish wedding to Lauren Sanchez last month may have cost him a pretty penny—but even on the day of his nuptials the Amazon founder was generating millions
Moreover, On June 27, the day Bezos and Sanchez said their vows, the billionaire sold millions of s in online giant Amazon as part of a wider plan to offload stock (an important development)
Additionally, An SEC filing seen by Fortune shows that on June 27, Bezos sold more than 3. 3 million Amazon s at a price of between $221 and $223 a
Furthermore, The resulting windfall for the transaction date of his wedding alone was $735 million, per Fortune calculations
Furthermore, And while other newlyweds might expect to see their wealth take a hit during their honeymoon, Bezos’s wealth soared as he continued his selloff with six further Form 4 filings made between late June and late July
Between July 3 and 7, Bezos offloaded a further three million s at apximately $224 apiece, on July 8 and 9 a further 500,000 s were sold at a similar price, and between July and July 14 sold a further 6. 7 million s for between $224 and $226 per stock
Additionally, On the other hand, On July 15, Bezos sold a further 733,000 s for $227 each, and between July 21 and 22 offloaded a further 6 (which is quite significant). 6 million s at $227
The most recent transaction, from July 23 and July 24, also offloaded more than 4. 1 million s at between $228 to $233 apiece
On the other hand, The total selloff—and with Amazon stock up 5, in this volatile climate. 5% over the past month alone—has netted Bezos some $5
Moreover, In contrast, 7 billion in total, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index estimates, given the current landscape
It’s easy to assume that offloading millions of s would reduce Bezos’s stake significantly in the company with a market cap of near-$2, considering recent developments. 5 trillion
Nevertheless, Not so, as the SEC filings reveal Bezos still owns apximately 884 million Amazon s
This puts him roughly on a par with some of Amazon’s largest institutional holders
Yahoo Finance, for example, reports Vanguard as the top institutional holder with 832 million s, given the current landscape
With Amazon stock up 26% over the past year, and up roughly 46% over the past half decade, Bezos now sits on a net worth of $252 billion (per Bloomberg), making him the third-richest person on the planet, in today's market environment
Moreover, Maintaining distance Of course, Bezos himself isn’t orchestrating the sales of millions of s on a weekly basis
This leads to the conclusion that analysis reveals SEC filings show the stock sales are occurring according to a SEC Rule 10b5-1 trading plan established in early May
The rule creates a standard practice for an officer of a publicly listed company to sell s in a preplanned way, without accusations of insider trading
The 10b5-1 plan has a number of stipulations, chief among them that a formula (not a person) determines the number, price, and date of the trades (quite telling), in this volatile climate
A third party who cannot be influenced by the client must also be employed to conduct the sales
Similar action has been taken by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in recent weeks, who used 10b5-1 filings to offload s while achieving a billionaire wealth
However, But Bezos’s SEC history also reveals the billionaire is offloading sales not only for wealth gain but for philanthropy
On the 27th of June, the same day Bezos’s selloff began, Morgan Stanley filed a note on behalf of Bezos in a Form 144 filing (this bears monitoring)
The filing reads: “On May 13, May 14, and June 3, 2025, the reporting person contributed 633,812 s to non-fit organizations, which may have sold such s during the three months preceding the date of this Form 144. ” The form does not reveal which organization received the s
While Bezos has not signed The Giving Pledge (a commitment from the world’s wealthiest to donate the majority of their fortune to philanthropy) he has publicly stated he intends to donate the majority of his wealth during his lifetime to philanthropic causes, telling CNN in 2022 he was “building the capacity to be able to give away this money. ”Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in America (noteworthy indeed)
Explore this year's list.
Related Articles
More insights from FinancialBooklet