SEATTLE, WA – Following this week’s major sale of Amazon stock by Jeff Bezos, the race for the title of the world’s richest man has intensified. Bezos’ strategic move netted him about $2 billion and positioned him to potentially overtake Elon Musk’s fortune, which currently sits at $209 billion, by a narrow margin.
The sale of 12 million shares of Amazon stock marks Bezos’ first major stock sale since 2021, aligning with a plan announced earlier in the year for him to sell 50 million shares by the end of 2024, totaling roughly $8.5 billion.
At the end of December, Bezos held 988 million shares, just short of 10% of Amazon, valued at approximately $168 billion. However, a surge in Amazon’s stock this year has led to a significant rise in Bezos’ estimated wealth, putting him in second place on the world’s richest people list, with a net worth of $200 billion at the time of the sale.
The decision to offload shares is not the first time Bezos has made a significant sale. In 2021, he sold $2.5 billion worth of shares as he prepared to step down as CEO, and in 2020, he dumped $1.8 billion after Amazon’s stocks surged following the company’s 2019 full-year earnings call.
With Bezos’ net worth just $5 billion behind Musk’s at the time of the sale, the title of the world’s richest person is well within reach for Bezos, setting the stage for an intense race between the two billionaires.
As Bezos’ wealth has surged this year, Musk’s has fallen by $29 billion, due in part to a 27% plunge in Tesla’s stock prompted by weaker-than-expected growth for the electric car company, as well as a Delaware judge’s ruling that voided Musk’s $55 billion compensation package at Tesla. Musk currently holds the top spot on Forbes’ list of billionaires, followed closely by Bezos. However, Bloomberg’s list ranks Musk as having the top slot with Arnault in third place.