Social Media Left Guessing As Jeff Bezos Secretly Buys An Amazon Share & Gifts 69,290

It has recently come to light that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world¡¯s third-richest person, did something strange two weeks ago, which has left everyone from social media to financial analysts wondering why.

Jeff Bezos Buys An Amazon Share & Gifts 69,290

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Jeff Bezos recently bought a single share of Amazon, which is his first in 21 years (i.e. since 2002), and also gifted 69,290 shares worth almost $8 million to a nonprofit organisation,

The single share purchase and gifting were recently disclosed in a regulatory filing. This comes as a surprise not just because he bought a single share, but also because the 59-year-old Amazon founder is better known for selling. He has unloaded roughly $30 billion worth of Amazon stock since 2002 to fund his various pursuits, from rocket company Blue Origin to personal pleasures like his new $500 million superyacht Koru.

Following Amazon¡¯s 1997 initial public offering, Bezos received no further stock in compensation since the IPO and still owns about 10% of the company, which accounts for the bulk of his $147 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The May 25 stock purchase has already made him about $10 richer, as Amazon shares traded around $124 last Friday, boosted by a broader tech rally that pushed the S&P 500 Index into a bull market this week, as per a Bloomberg report. Amazon shares have jumped more than 40% this year to date.

Why The Move Has Left People Guessing

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Jeff Bezos¡¯ move has left Amazon analysts and stock watchers guessing, as they don¡¯t know what to make of the single Amazon stock purchase.

Social media was abuzz with its own set of theories, with one person speculating that Bezos planned to give the physical certificate as a gift and others quipping that he must have accidentally clicked the buy button on his brokerage account, the report mentioned.

¡°He needed one more share to take back control,¡± joked Mark Shmulik, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein. (Bezos owns 9.7% of Amazon's stock and retains voting control over the 2.9% stake owned by MacKenzie Scott, his ex-wife, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.)

Shmulik¡¯s serious answer, like everyone else: ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out what that was about.¡± Then there¡¯s the theory that Bezos is taking a page from Elon Musk's book. Musk has a history of buying, selling and donating Tesla shares every now and then.

Trying to be Elon

¡ª /anon/ (@avaxtree) June 9, 2023

Because he knows people can't live without Amazon, but can live without Apple.

¡ª Richard (@Logbia7k) June 9, 2023

Jeff Bezos Has Gained $10 on Mystery Purchase of One Amazon Share https://t.co/swSFkX9qQq Physical Delivery & Frame it $AMZN

¡ª Greg Milin (@7wtc) June 11, 2023

Also Read: Flashback To 1998, When Netflix Rejected Jeff Bezos Led Amazon's Offer To Buy It For $15 Million

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