back to article Jeff Bezos sells one million Amazon shares, makes one billion dollars

Amazon.com founder, CEO and president Jeff Bezos has sold a million shares in his own company and reaped over a billion dollars from the transaction. As this filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission shows, Bezos last week offloaded 30 parcels of shares, and a million shares in total. Buyers paid …

  1. Snowy Silver badge

    Unless I'm missing something 16% is hardly a controlling interest.

    1. Phil W

      To some degree it depends how much anyone else has, if no single other individual owns more than 16% he still has a degree of control.

      Certainly at 16% combinations of other shareholders might have greater control but I imagine he sees that as unlikely to be a problem if he's selling shares.

    2. John Robson Silver badge

      Depends how many are voting shares as well

    3. Spudley

      Unless I'm missing something 16% is hardly a controlling interest.

      I don't know the specifics of Amazon, but it could be. In between different classes of share, different voting rights, and dilution of the other shares across many owners it's possible to sell a very large proportion of a company while still retaining control.

      What this article did fail to do, however, was tell us what percentage of the company was represented by those million shares, and also what kind of shares they were. That would give a clearer picture as to what this sale actually means.

      1. rh587

        I don't know the specifics of Amazon, but it could be. In between different classes of share, different voting rights, and dilution of the other shares across many owners it's possible to sell a very large proportion of a company while still retaining control.

        This. IIRC, Elon Musk owns <50% of both SpaceX and Tesla, yet retains outright control by having >50% of the voting shares. Other shareholders are just happy to be along for the ride.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'd probably advise against building his own submarine.

    1. My-Handle

      Indeed. That Lotus Esprit that Elon Musk bought a while ago is now probably functional. And armed.

    2. Craig 2

      Why not? It's a good way to get ahead...

    3. Stevie

      I'd probably advise against building his own submarine.

      Well spotted AC.

      I wonder what it is about submarines that causes those in them to enter into rampaging murderous states of mind, and then to completely forget they did it.

      In order to find out I decided to run an emulation. I hid in the fridge for three days wearing headphones playing monotonous "pinging" noises. While I was thus incommunicado during the experiment my entire family including our dog and the roomba were hacked to pieces by some madman who ran amok with my favorite chainsaw.

      The police were their usual unhelpful selves, jumping to the most ridiculous conclusion and arresting me on trumped-up charges. I explained that the blood was from a joint of beef we bought for Friday's dinner that had dripped all over me but they wouldn't listen, citing "trace" evidence and the circumstantial bottle of chain lube oil they found in my trouser pocket.

      I was unable to collate my notes and tape recordings owing to them being held in evidence. So I guess we'll never know.

      1. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: I'd probably advise against building his own submarine.

        Upvoted for adding a much-needed dose of surreal whimsy to what promises to be an otherwise shit day.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shame Amazon makes no profit...

    But in the billionaire land of the tax dodging 1% its about getting paid at the top whilst you fuck over the proles

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shame Amazon makes no profit...

      The thing is tax is paid on profits not sales. Amazon tries very hard not to make a profit by reinvesting its gains to grow the business, so its tax bill is always going to be low and its growth spectacular. Fortunately the VAT it raises from UK sales does contribute to the UK treasury.

      1. Sil

        Re: Shame Amazon makes no profit...

        Amazon isn't trying very hard, it's loosing money but for AWS.

        Its eCommerce loss probably won't improve because Walmart must and does react, and so must many retailers around the world.

        The 2 decades old exuberance of Amazon's share price is all the more dumbfounding that Alibaba has shown it has the superior business model, oozing money from every pore with very little risk and depreciating assets (it owns almost no infrastructures).

        It will take decades, if ever, for Amazon to earn what Alibaba already did.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fireworks

    I enjoy splashing a bit of cash on fireworks at this time of year, especially rockets.

    Bezos however can afford to spend rather more and get something ....... quite a bit bigger.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Fireworks

      Sadly for him, the term 'BFR' has been taken by Elon Musk.

      could it be the new AWS (Amazon works in Space)?

      Coat (it is cold this morning) with a copy of 'Transports of Delight' by Spike Milligan in the pocket.

    2. ratfox
      Paris Hilton

      *Insert standard joke about overcompensating*

  5. x 7

    How much to buy an extinct volcano island in the Pacific?

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Depends where

      If it is in the Hawaian archipelago - ask Larry.

      If it is elsewhere in the middle of nowhere like let's say New Caledonia you are probably looking at under 10-20M. So that leaves 980M to build the automated defences and mount the lasers on the patrolling sharks.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      He does look a bit like blofeld.

  6. schmittpw

    I think everyone is missing the underlying issue. Why is he selling a million shares of his own company? Either he really needs the money, or he sees that 'Peak Amazon' has passed and it's time to get out while the share price is high..

    1. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
      FAIL

      No . . . that point was explicitly covered in the article.

  7. Stevie

    Bah!

    My guess is that part of the dosh will go to establishing their own goods distribution network. I've noticed that my own "2 day delivery" stuff is beginning to show up late, and is at odds with the "track yuour package" data. My guess would be that the delivery systems are being rejiggered.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thank you, The Register!

    Thanks for the headline! While the article was well written, the headline was one of the best I've seen all year!

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