Jeff Bezos plans to sell his Amazon shares.

The move by the Amazon founder comes as the company is likely to be affected by the large tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on its Chinese partners.

Jeff Bezos, founder and current chairman of the board of Amazon. Photo: Reuters .

According to legal filings released on May 2nd, Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to $4.75 billion worth of Amazon stock within the next 12 months. He is the founder of the e-commerce company and will serve as CEO until 2021.

Currently, Bezos is the executive chairman of the board of directors. He will gradually sell up to 25 million shares, under an orderly trading plan extending until the end of May 2026, to avoid causing significant volatility in the stock market.

With the closing price on May 1st at $190 per share, these shares are worth approximately $4.75 billion . According to Amazon's latest quarterly financial report, this transaction plan was established in early March.

Previously, Bezos sold more than $13.4 billion worth of Amazon stock throughout 2024. This was the time when the company's market capitalization surpassed $2 trillion , thanks to investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.

This move comes just hours after Amazon warned on the evening of May 1st about the impact of the global trade war initiated by Donald Trump. Amazon expects operating profit for the current quarter to be between $13 billion and $17.5 billion , compared with $14.7 billion in the same period last year, but still lower than Wall Street's forecast of $17.7 billion .

Analysts have warned that the Trump administration's high 145% tariffs on China could impact Amazon's profits. Approximately a quarter of the goods Amazon sells are imported from the country. The company is currently negotiating with suppliers to secure significant discounts.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs believe these tariffs could reduce the company's operating profit by $5 to $10 billion this year. This represents a 6% to 12% drop compared to Wall Street's forecast for operating profit for the entire fiscal year.

The company also projected net revenue for the current quarter to be at least $159 billion , lower than analysts' forecast of $161.4 billion . Additionally, Amazon's stock fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading ahead of the meeting with analysts.

This week, the Seattle-based company became embroiled in a dispute with the U.S. government . The policy ending the tax exemption for items under $800, effective May 2nd, has impacted the business of Haul, Amazon's ultra-low-price platform.

The company had considered including import fees in the price of consumer products, similar to its Chinese rival Temu. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the move “hostile and political .” Jeff Bezos had a conversation with Trump before deciding to withdraw the proposal.

On the other hand, the company's cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), while not meeting expectations, still showed strong growth. The unit recorded a 17% increase in revenue, just under $100 million short of the consensus estimate of $29.4 billion . Revenue from advertising also increased by 18%.

CEO Andy Jassy said the company plans to spend $100 billion on fixed asset investments this year, with the majority of that allocated to artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.

Source: https://znews.vn/jeff-bezos-dinh-ban-co-phieu-amazon-post1550619.html