Bezos to sell up to 50 million Amazon shares by Jan 31 next year, filing shows

The sale plan, encompassing securities worth $8.6 billion, will be completed by Jan 31, 2025

FILE PHOTO: Jeff Bezos, president and CEO of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, speaks at the Economic Club of Washington DC's "Milestone Celebration Dinner" in Washington, US, Septembe

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will sell up to 50 million shares in the online retail and cloud services firm over the next one year, according to a company filing on Friday.

The securities are worth $8.6 billion at the current price of $171.8 share.

The sale plan, which is subject to certain conditions, was adopted on Nov 8 last year and will be completed by Jan 31, 2025, according to the company's latest annual report.

Amazon shares ended nearly 8 percent higher on Friday after the e-commerce heavyweight reported higher-than-expected sales for the holiday quarter and its lucrative cloud business signaled early gains from AI-powered features.

They had surged more than 80 percent last year amid a broader rally in tech stocks and outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Bezos founded Amazon as a bookseller in 1994. He stepped down as its chief executive and took over as executive chairman in 2021.

He is currently the world's third richest person with a net worth of $185 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.