Jeff Bezos To Sell $5 Billion In Amazon Shares: Could He Be Raising Cash For Seattle Seahawks Purchase?
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos is selling another portion of his stake in the company, which comes years after stepping down from the CEO role.
What Happened: Bezos departed from Amazon’s c-suite in 2021, a role he held for the 27 years since the company was founded.
The Amazon founder now serves as the e-commerce giant’s executive chair. He’s been selling a portion of his Amazon stake this year.
Bezos sold $8.5 billion in shares in February. A Tuesday SEC filing by Amazon shows Bezos plans on selling 25 million Amazon shares valued at $4.93 billion.
The new sale would bring Bezos’ total sold to around $13.4 billion in stock in 2024. Bezos owns around 9% of Amazon shares, according to a report from the Financial Times.
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What's Next: Bezos could be selling shares for a number of reasons. The Amazon founder is spending more time working on his space company Blue Origin and other ventures.
Bezos is also set to wed Lauren Sanchez and has spent more time vacationing aboard his $500 million yacht Koru, which costs $25 million annually to operate.
Speculation could grow that Bezos is raising cash to make a push to own a National Football League team. Bezos was previously linked with making a bid for the Washington Commanders, a D.C.-based NFL team.
Reports said Bezos may have been blocked from bidding due to a personal grudge held by former Commanders owner Daniel Snyder. In the end, Bezos didn't formally bid on the team and the Commanders were sold to a group for $6.05 billion.
The sale was the largest in sports history, but could be topped if more NFL teams are sold in the future.
Bezos has been linked to making a push to buying the Seattle Seahawks. A previous Washington Post report said NFL owners support Bezos joining the league.
"Other owners have expressed a desire for Bezos to buy a team. Bezos could get that opportunity if he pursues the Seattle Seahawks. That team is expected to be sold in the coming years," the report said.
The report said, "Bezos knows that Seattle is sitting there."
The Seahawks, who were valued at $5 billion by Forbes last year, are owned by the Paul G. Allen Trust. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen previously owned the team before his death in 2018. The assets are expected to be sold in the coming years. Allen made instructions that the trust would be liquidated after his death with proceeds going to philanthropic efforts.
While Bezos may have moved from Seattle to Florida, the Amazon founder will forever be linked to the Washington city and the Seahawks could lure him back to the city, at least on a part-time basis.
One lingering question mark could be whether the NFL would approve a sale to Bezos with Amazon.com having broadcast rights to Thursday Night Football games.
Bezos is worth $222 billion, ranking second in the world in wealth behind Elon Musk ($241 billion), according to Bloomberg.
AMZN Price Action: Amazon shares are down 1% to $197.82 Wednesday after hitting new all-time highs of $200.43 on Tuesday.
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