It is a puzzling move.
It elicits different reactions.
Some see it as a provocation as they cannot find meaning in it. They may read and reread the document in which the information was reported, but they come to the same conclusion: they do not really understand what Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, had in mind.
Others find there a touch of humor from the entrepreneur. They interpret the information as his way of making fun of financial analysts.
Whichever view you take, the recent move of the world's third richest man is puzzling. It surprises. It's mind blowing. Bezos, 59, bought one Amazon share on May 25. You heard right. The billionaire bought a single Amazon share. He notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the transaction on May 26.
The purchase was made at a price of $114.77, according to the regulatory filing that you can read here.
Is it a troll? The question remains unanswered as of the time of writing.
The Stock Is Up
Still, Bezos made a good deal. He has already earned $12 on this singular investment in less than a month, or to be exact $11.8. The Amazon stock price has increased by 10.3% since that day. Bezos could have gained more if he had bought more Amazon shares, because the Seattle, Washington-based company is in a very good shape on the stock market this year, like other members of big tech which benefit from the optimism generated by artificial intelligence.
As Bloomberg News points out, Bezos has been known to sell his Amazon stock. In 2002, for example, he sold almost $30 billion worth of shares in the online trading giant to finance Blue Origin, his aerospace company and also the construction of his superyacht Koru, of which he took delivery this year. This giant yacht is valued at almost $500 million.
On the same day, the billionaire made another transaction, donating 69,290 Amazon shares to a non-profit organization, according to the regulatory filing. The donation is worth $8.77 million at Amazon's closing price on Jun. 12.
In all, Bezos now owns 990,476,371 Amazon shares, which represent 10% of the company. His immense fortune, estimated at $147 billion as of Jun. 11 according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, depends on this stake.
The billionaire recently made the front pages of the tabloids, which announced his engagement to his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, 53.
In January 2019, the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon and his wife of 25 years, Mackenzie Scott, announced to the world that they were going to divorce. The announcement was made on Twitter.
It was one of the rare moments when the public got a glimpse into the life of the man who transformed Amazon from an online bookseller into an e-commerce juggernaut.
Scott owns 2.9% of Amazon.
