This week marked a significant move for Jeff Bezos as he divested 12 million shares of Amazon.com Inc., the first such sale since 2021. According to a filing, the transactions occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, totaling just over $2 billion in proceeds. Bezos' decision follows Amazon's announcement on Feb. 2 that he intends to sell up to 50 million shares of the company over the next year, potentially leveraging the current stock surge to capitalize on his position.

With his fortune soaring to $199.5 billion as of Friday, Bezos is inching closer to claiming the title of the world’s wealthiest individual, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Having previously sold over $30 billion in Amazon shares since records dating back to 2002, Bezos has predominantly engaged in stock gifting, including a donation of shares valued at approximately $230 million to nonprofit organizations in November.