Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has filed a Form 144 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell about 15 million Amazon shares, valued at roughly $4.07 billion based on the closing price cited in the filing. The disclosure came just after Amazon released second-quarter results that beat expectations, pushing the company’s market capitalization above $3 trillion for the first time and sending the stock to a record high.
Sale tied to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan
According to the regulatory filing cited by ABMedia, Bezos’ sale covers 15 million shares of Amazon common stock and is being carried out under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan he signed in November 2025. The framework allows corporate insiders to prearrange the timing and size of stock sales as long as they are not acting on material nonpublic information.
The report said the shares being sold trace back to founder equity Bezos received when he started the company in 1994. Once the sale is completed, Bezos will still hold about 869 million Amazon shares. His ownership stake would edge down to about 8.1%, while the value of that remaining stake would still exceed $240 billion, leaving him as Amazon’s largest individual shareholder.
Strong quarter lifted Amazon above $3 trillion
The insider sale disclosure followed Amazon’s second-quarter earnings report. The company posted revenue of $200.61 billion, above the market expectation of $196.46 billion. Operating income rose 43% from a year earlier to $27.5 billion.
AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing unit, reported revenue of $42.2 billion, up 36.7% year over year. That business contributed 61% of the company’s total operating income. Supported by demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence, Amazon’s market capitalization crossed the $3 trillion mark on Aug. 3, 2026, making it the fifth publicly traded company in the world to reach that milestone.
Stock slipped after the filing
Large insider sales after a sharp run-up are commonly viewed as part of routine portfolio management, but the filing still added short-term profit-taking pressure. ABMedia said Amazon shares fell more than 2% even though the broader U.S. stock market had surged the previous day.
The report also noted that Bezos has regularly sold Amazon stock over the years to fund Blue Origin, his space company, along with charitable organizations and other investments.
Part of a broader trend among tech executives
ABMedia said the move fits a wider pattern among founders and senior executives at major technology companies. As AI-related enthusiasm has pushed valuations in big tech to historic highs, executives at Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet have also carried out prearranged share-sale plans in recent years.
The report added that analysts see many 10b5-1 sales as part of personal financial planning or liquidity management, rather than a direct signal that insiders have turned negative on company fundamentals.