Jeff Bezos unloads another US$2 billion of Amazon stock in latest sale

JEFF Bezos has unloaded another 12 million shares of Amazon.com valued at US$2 billion, bringing the total sold in the past week to more than US$6 billion.

He sold the latest tranche on Tuesday (Feb 13) and Wednesday, according to a filing. The sales are part of an already disclosed plan to dispose of as many as 50 million shares of the company he founded.

In total, he has now sold about 36 million shares. Bezos has not explained why he is selling, but the timing of when he instituted the trading plan may provide a clue. He announced on Nov 2 that he was moving to Miami from the Seattle region and adopted a so-called 10(b)5-1 plan on Nov 8.

The move to Florida has now likely saved Bezos about US$430 million in taxes. Washington state recently implemented a 7 per cent levy on capital gains, while Florida has no such tax.

Spokespeople for Bezos and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG