Bezos sells $4bn Amazon shares after move to tax haven Florida
JEFF BEZOS has sold more than $4bn (£3.2bn) worth of Amazon stock, as the tech tycoon looks to cash in on some of his vast holdings.
The Amazon founder bolstered his $190bn fortune in recent days by selling shares in two tranches worth $2bn apiece, which comes after his company’s share price neared an all-time high.
Amazon’s shares have risen more than 12pc so far this year after the company reported a 14pc rise in Christmas sales last week.
It recorded revenues of $170bn in the three months to December.
The share sales are Mr Bezos’s first since 2021 and follow his recent move from Washington State to Florida – where he will reportedly save hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.
Miami, which has no income or capital gains tax, has become increasingly popular among the ultra-wealthy in recent years. The state’s low taxes contrast with Seattle, Washington, where Mr Bezos had lived since 1994.
His sale of Amazon stock is likely to be considered a capital gain because he has owned the shares since he founded the company 30 years ago.
The Amazon chairman announced in November that he was moving to
Florida with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, claiming at the time that it was because he wanted to be closer to his parents.
He now owns two mansions in Miami on an island dubbed “Billionaire Bunker”, which are worth $79m and $68m respectively.
His new neighbours include Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn. Other nearby residents include Tom Brady, the American football star, who bought a $17m waterfront property in the area three years ago.
The Amazon founder lived in Florida with his family as a teenager, attending high school in the city.
After cutting down his holdings over the years, Mr Bezos now owns just over 9pc of Amazon, having stepped down as chief executive in 2021.
His vast holding in the $1.7trillion company still makes him the world’s second-richest man, with an estimated net worth of $193bn.