Jeff Bezos sells nearly 12m Amazon shares worth at least 2bn dollars

The Amazon executive chairman notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the sale of 11,997,698 shares of common stock on February 7 and 8.

The collective value of the shares in the tech giant, which is based in Seattle where he founded the company in a garage about three decades ago, was more than 2.04 billion dollars (£1.62 billion), according to the listed price totals.

The stocks were grouped in five blocks of between one million and more than 3.2 million.

In a separate SEC filing, Mr Bezos listed the proposed sale of 50 million Amazon shares around February 7 with an estimated market value of 8.4 billion dollars (£6.65 billion).

The businessman stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive in 2021 to spend more time on his other projects, including the rocket company Blue Origin, and his philanthropy.

His address on the stock filings is listed as Seattle, although he has reportedly relocated to Miami.