Jeff Bezos to sell up to 50 million Amazon shares

Jeff Bezos plans to sell as many as 50 million shares of Amazon.com Inc over the next 12 months, potentially cashing in on a stock surge that’s put him within reach of becoming the world’s richest person.

The disclosure comes after Amazon reported its best online sales growth since early in the pandemic, sending its shares rallying by nearly 8% to $172. Bezos’ wealth jumped a commensurate amount, gaining $12.1 billion Friday to put him $8.1 billion behind first-place Elon Musk, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos hasn’t been No. 1 on the index since 2021.