Jeff Bezos Sells His Amazon Shares Worth $2.8 Billion

Last week, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon Inc sold his shares to the total value of $2.8 billion. On Thursday and Friday alone, the shares sold were worth $990 million.

While there was no official statement made stating the reason for sale, the move is in line with Bezos' previously declared plan under rule 10b5-1 to sell his stocks worth $1 billion every year to fund his rocket company Blue Origin. Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities and Exchange Commission (USA's stock market regulator) allows insiders of a listed company to set up a plan to sell stocks they own. It also helps executives of corporations to avoid accusations of insider trading.

Blue Origin was started by Bezos in 2000 and is led by CEO Bob Smith. The privately funded American aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company is developing technologies that will allow private human access to space.

Mackenzie Bezos, Jeff Bezos' former wife, is currently the second largest individual shareholder in e-retailing giant with stake worth more than $37 billion. She received the share as part of the divorce settlement.