New Delhi: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently sold 6.6 million Amazon shares, worth about USD 1.5 billion, just before the company’s second-quarter earnings report. He made this sale using a special plan called a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
A Rule 10b5-1 plan is a legal arrangement that lets insiders at public companies—like major shareholders or executives—set up a schedule to sell their shares in advance. This schedule is created when the insider does not have access to any secret or important (nonpublic) company information. By selling according to this plan, insiders can avoid accusations of insider trading because the timing and amount of each sale are decided ahead of time, not based on inside knowledge.
Jeff Bezos has been selling more and more of his Amazon stock recently. In addition to the latest USD 1.5 billion sale, he sold about USD 737 million worth of shares earlier in the month and around USD 4.8 billion over the past two years. Even after these sales, he still holds about 4.6 million Amazon shares, valued at roughly USD 1 billion.
According to filings, Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million Amazon shares, following a Rule 10b5-1 plan through May 29, 2026.