Jeff Bezos, founder and current chairman of the board of directors of Amazon. Photo: Reuters .

Jeff Bezos, the founder of the e-commerce company and CEO until 2021, plans to sell up to $4.75 billion worth of Amazon stock over the next 12 months, according to a regulatory filing released on May 2.

Bezos, who is currently executive chairman of the board, will gradually sell up to 25 million shares under an orderly trading plan that runs through the end of May 2026, in order to avoid causing major volatility in the stock market.

At the closing price of $190 per share on May 1, the stake is worth about $4.75 billion . According to Amazon's most recent quarterly financial report, the transaction plan was set up in early March.

Bezos previously sold more than $13.4 billion in Amazon stock throughout 2024, when the company's market capitalization surpassed $2 trillion , thanks to investor excitement over artificial intelligence.

The move came just hours after Amazon warned on Friday night of the impact of Donald Trump’s global trade war. Amazon expects operating profit for the current quarter to be between $13 billion and $17.5 billion , compared with $14.7 billion a year ago, but still below Wall Street’s forecast of $17.7 billion .

Analysts have warned that the Trump administration’s 145% tariff on China could hit Amazon’s profits. About a quarter of the goods Amazon sells are imported from the country. The company is negotiating with suppliers for big discounts.

Goldman Sachs analysts said the tariffs could shave $5 billion to $10 billion off the company’s operating profit this year, a figure that would represent a 6% to 12% decline from Wall Street’s full-year operating profit forecast.

The company also forecast current-quarter net revenue of at least $159 billion , below analysts' estimates of $161.4 billion . Amazon shares fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading ahead of the analyst call.

This week, the Seattle-based company has been embroiled in a dispute with the U.S. government, which ended duty-free shipping on items worth less than $800 on May 2, affecting the business of Haul, Amazon’s ultra-low-cost platform.

The company had considered including import fees in the price of its consumer products, similar to Chinese rival Temu. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the move “hostile and political.” Jeff Bezos had a conversation with Mr. Trump before deciding to withdraw the proposal.

On the other hand, the company’s cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), missed expectations but still showed signs of strong growth. The unit posted a 17% revenue increase, just $100 million below the consensus estimate of $29.4 billion . Advertising revenue also rose 18%.

The company plans to spend $100 billion on capital expenditures this year, much of it on artificial intelligence (AI)-related initiatives, CEO Andy Jassy said.

Source: https://znews.vn/jeff-bezos-dinh-ban-co-phieu-amazon-post1550619.html