TECH mogul Jeff Bezos cashed out $4 BILLION in a week after selling more than 1.7 million of his Amazon shares.
Regulatory findings indicate the millionaire CEO intended to sell three percent of his company shares in advance, adhering to rules preventing insider trading.
Forbes reports he will rake in around $3.1 billion after tax – and he still owns over 55.55 million shares in Amazon.
This year, Bezos – the world’s richest person, ahead of No. 2 Bill Gates – has sold 2 million Amazon shares since January 31.
On Thursday, Bezos sold approximately 300,000 shares for $580 million pre-tax, according to a Securities Exchange Commission filing.
The Amazon CEO previously said he would offload shares occasionally to fund his space exploration company Blue Origin.
The sale coincided with the company’s hugely positive quarterly earnings report and stock is currently on a high.
Company shares have risen 12 percent a week after the January 30 report, trading at $2,087.35 on Friday at 12 pm.
Bezos’ remaining Amazon shares are worth an impressive $116.5 billion at current prices.
Forbes now puts Bezos’ net worth at $126.9 billion — $14.5 billion more than No. 2 richest Bill Gates.
The plot thickened last month when a separate filing showed his ex-wife MacKenzie sold $370 million worth of her post-divorce Amazon stock.
Last year, MacKenzie sold 202,000 shares of Amazon stock which works out to be around $370 million at current prices.
The high profile pair called it a day in January 2019 after The National Enquirer revealed Bezos’ heady affair with Lauren Sanchez.
That April, their divorce was finalized after 25 years of marriage and Bezos hung on to 75 percent of the couple’s stock.
MacKenzie received shares which equated to around $35 billion at the time.
Bexos’ ex-wife owned 19.49 million shares as of December 31, according to the filing, even after liquidating some of the stock.
MacKenzie signed the Giving Pledge last May, Warren Buffett and the Gates’ 2010 initiative to encourage billionaires to donate at least half of their wealth to charitable causes.
These charitable donations can be given either during their lifetimes or via their will.
Bezos hasn’t signed the pledge but he has donated to worthy causes like homelessness ($100 million in 2019) and the Austrailian wildfires (1 million Austrailian dollars).
But the life of a tech billionaire isn’t all rosy: Bezos is embroiled in a legal battle with his lover’s brother, Michael Sanchez.
Sanchez is suing Bezos and his security consultant Gavin de Becker for defamation.
He claims the Amazon founder said Sanchez supplied The National Enquirer with naked shots of Bezos.
Court documents allege Bezos and his “current fiance” started their love affair before it emerged – the lawsuit even states Lauren helped to leak the damning texts and photos.
While the legal battle rages on, Forbes put Bezos’ net worth at $126.9 billion, $14.5 billion more than Apple mogul Gates – crowning him the richest man on earth.
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