Jeff Bezos Stopped Selling Amazon Stock When It Hit This Price
By
Ed Lin
Last Updated: Aug. 4, 2024 at 12:46?p.m. ET
First Published: Aug. 2, 2024 at 2:15?p.m. ET
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Founder Jeff Bezos’ trading plan had been selling Amazon stock steadily in early July, but stopped abruptly when the stock price began to slip.
PHOTO: MANDEL NGAN/ AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Referenced Symbols
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Amazon
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.com founder
Jeff Bezos may have a fair value in mind for shares of the e-commerce and cloud company.
Bezos had established a trading program to sell Amazon stock earlier this year, but his automated sales stopped when the share price slipped below $200.
On March 2, Bezos, who is now the company’s executive chair, established a so-called Rule 10b5-1 plan to sell up to 25 million Amazon shares through Dec. 31, 2025. Insiders use such plans to remove potential bias from the knowledge of material nonpublic information. The plan automatically executes sales or purchases of stock when present conditions, including price and volume, are met. Amazon disclosed Bezos’ plan in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bezos’ automated sales began July 2 but the plan’s latest sale so far was on July 11, with 8,645,380 Amazon shares sold for $1.73 billion, an average price of $200.12. That price is important, as July 11 was the last day this summer that Amazon stock traded above $200. It might indicate that Bezos’ plan has a $200 cutoff price for sales.
Amazon didn’t respond to a request to make Bezos available for comment on his trading plan.
Bezos’ trading plan had been selling at a steady clip, executing transactions every trading day from July 2 through 11, when it stopped. That’s when a market rotation out of Big Tech gained strength.
Other executives’ stock-trading plans haven’t been as price-sensitive. Nvidia
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CEO Jensen Huang has a trading plan that has been executing sales steadily even with shares sliding.
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Bezos had been selling earlier this year at prices below $200 a share, however. Under a trading plan he adopted on Nov. 8, 2023, Bezos most recently sold 14 million shares from Feb. 15 through 20 for $2.37 billion, an average price of $168.95.
If Bezos has set $200 as a minimum sales price for Amazon stock, his current plan—with more than 16 million more shares left to sell—might not be executing soon. Disappointing revenue guidance and surging spending in the second quarter sent shares diving 8.8% to close at $167.90 in early afternoon trading Friday.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.
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