Jeff Bezos has unloaded another 12 million shares of Amazon worth $2 billion, bringing the total stock he sold during the past week to more than $6 billion.
The 60-year-old billionaire unloaded his latest cache of shares in the e-commerce giant he founded on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings earlier reported on by Bloomberg.
The transactions are part of Bezos’ grander plan to sell as many as 50 million Amazon shares over the next year.
During the past week, he’s made three sales totaling roughly 36 million shares, according to Bloomberg.
It’s unclear why he’s selling now, though Amazon’s share price has enjoyed a more than 12% gain so far this year.
The selloff also comes just after Bezos started calling Florida home — a move that’s saved him hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.
With his recent stock sales alone, Bezos has likely saved at least $430 million thanks to his Seattle-to-Miami move.
Washington state imposed a 7% levy on capital gains on stocks or bonds upwards of $250,000 in 2022. Florida, however, has no such tax.
By the time Bezos unloads the remaining 14 million shares he vowed to rid of by Jan. 31 2025, he could be in for a tax break worth more than a handsome $600 million — assuming Amazon’s share price remains flat.
Representatives for Bezos did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Bezos — the No. 2 richest person in the world with a $194 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — ditched his longtime digs in Seattle last year for a glittering estate on the ultra-exclusive island Indian Creek, also known as “Billionaire Bunker.”
The island — where Bezos bought side-by-side lots each boasting mansions for a collective $147 million — boasts about 40 waterfront properties and an 18-hole golf course stretched across 294 acres.
There are also Brazilian teak docks where 100-plus-foot luxury vessels are moored — perfect for Bezos’ $500 million superyacht Koru, which features a helicopter landing pad, swimming pool, and a mermaid resembling Sanchez adorning the prow.
By the time Bezos sells 50 million Amazon shares, his anticipated tax break would more than pay for Koru, which costs roughly $25 million annually to operate.
Aside from the capital gains tax breaks he’ll get, Bezos is also poised to save on property taxes, which are 0.89% in the Sunshine State — less than Washington’s real estate tax rate of 0.98%, according to Rocket Mortgage.
And in Washington, deep-pocketed residents with assets valued at $2.193 million or more are also obligated to pay an estate tax ranging from 10% to 20% upon their death.
If Bezos were to keep Seattle as his primary residence and maintain his current net worth, it would mean he’d have to cough up as much as $38.8 billion in estate taxes upon his death.
Florida, meanwhile, does not charge residents estate tax, regardless of asset size.
Bezos had lived in Washington for the past three decades in a home less than 10 miles from Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.
Though his Miami move has sparked a debate about whether he was looking to skirt paying higher taxes, Bezos has claimed he wanted to be closer to his parents and rocket launches at his Blue Origin space company.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
