Bezos, Dimon and Zuckerberg: Together they sold shares worth over $9 billion
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and CEOs Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta have recently sold shares in their respective companies. What is now being discussed is whether this gives reason to believe that the markets would not rise much higher. At the same time, the sales were planned for the long term and all three companies are trading near record highs on the stock market.
Risk: A worrying message to the markets
Executives sell stocks all the time and for many reasons. Be it because they want to diversify their portfolio, have a large tax bill coming up, for estate planning purposes or simply to cover personal expenses. Still, it’s striking that three of the most prominent leaders in technology and finance have just divested huge amounts of money.
Bezos is leading the divestment race, having sold 50 million Amazon shares in just nine days in February, raising an estimated $8.5 billion, according to Business Insider. Zuckerberg redeemed nearly 1.8 million Meta shares for over $400 million at the end of 2023. Now Dimon from JPMorgan has also joined in and sold 822,000 shares for around $150 million.
What is particularly noteworthy is that the latter has never sold shares in his company in his 18 years as CEO. Selling large portions of your own shares could send a worrying message to the markets. The three executives are aware of the message that such a large divestment sends to the market in general and to shareholders.
Amazon, JPMorgan, and Meta are trading near record highs
All sales are said to have taken place as part of regular trading plans known months in advance. The sale was no surprise for investors. However, it is possible that the record high share values of the three companies were reason enough to sell shares and thus bring in fresh money. The Meta share rose by 186 percent in the previous year, JPMorgan by almost 30 percent and Amazon was able to achieve an increase of almost 90 percent.
While the sales of Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Dimon certainly deserve attention, it should be added that they represent only a small portion of their total holdings. This means that the three are still strongly tied to the success of their respective companies. New shares have not yet been purchased for portfolio diversification, which could indicate that the money is being reinvested in their own companies.
