Amazon briefly crossed the $3 trillion market-cap threshold on August 3, closing more than 4.5% higher at a record price. But in overnight trading, the shares slipped about 1% after a regulatory filing revealed founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell 15 million shares valued at $4.07 billion. The timing cooled investor enthusiasm just hours after the historic rally. According to a report by Stocktwits, the filling listed August 3 as the approximate sale date. The shares were acquired as founder stock in July 1994 and will be sold under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted in November 2025. If completed, Bezos’ stake would fall from 884 million shares to 869 million, or about 8.1% of Amazon’s 10.79 billion outstanding shares. His remaining stake would still be worth around $244 billion at current prices.
What is 10b5-1 trading plan under which Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sold shares
Rule 10b5-1 is a regulation from the US SEC that lets insiders at public companies set up a plan to sell their shares ahead of time. Under this rule, major shareholders can schedule the sale of a fixed number of shares at a set time, helping them avoid accusations of insider trading. Many company executives use 10b5-1 plans for this reason. The rule was introduced to clarify Rule 10b-5, part of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which is the main law used to investigate securities fraud.
Previous sales and investments made by Jeff Bezos
Bezos recently sold 25 million shares for $5.7 billion between late June and late July. Since 2002, he has unloaded about $50 billion in Amazon stock, often directing proceeds toward Blue Origin and AI ventures through Bezos Expeditions. Blue Origin is rebuilding its Cape Canaveral launchpad after a rocket explosion and is reportedly seeking $10 billion in outside funding at a $130 billion valuation.As revealed in a regulatory filing, the former CEO plans to sell up to 25m shares through trading plan “intended to satisfy Rule 10b5-1(c)” that ends on May 29, 2026. Bezos has previously sold $13.4bn of Amazon stock in 2024. With the planned sell off revealed in the regulatory filing, he will now own less than 9% of the e-commerce business. Despite this, Bezos’ remaining shares are worth about $170 billion in the $2 trillion company.
Amazon reports second-quarter earnings
The filing followed Amazon’s Q2 earnings beat, which reignited investor enthusiasm. Revenue rose 20% to $200.61 billion, operating income jumped 43% to $27.5 billion, and AWS revenue surged 36.7% to $42.2 billion, its strongest growth since 2021. AWS generated $16.6 billion in operating income, accounting for 61% of companywide profits.