Bezos Nips at Musk's Heels After Billion-Dollar Stock Dump
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is closing in on Elon Musk's position as the world's richest man after selling off another $2 billion worth of company stock. This latest sale follows a similar transaction last week of $2 billion, according to SEC filings. Bezos, who remains the e-commerce giant's largest shareholder with a stake of around 9%, announced earlier this month that he would sell up to 50 million shares by the end of January 2025. With this latest sale, Bezos has disposed of roughly 24 million shares, a fraction of the more than 976 million he owned prior to the recent sales. As of Tuesday, Bezos's net worth was valued at $193 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, just short of Musk's $202 billion fortune.
Musk has seen his net worth decrease by more than $27 billion since January 1, mainly due to the plunging price of Tesla stock. Amazon's stock has been on fire, with the share price rising by roughly 70% over the last year. The e-commerce giant reported better-than-expected revenue and profits for the fourth quarter, driven by strong consumer spending during the holiday shopping season. Amazon reported $170 billion in revenue and $10.6 billion in profits, beating expectations.
Bezos and Musk are competing to bring tourists to space. Blue Origin has been lagging behind SpaceX, which has routinely sent rockets into orbit. In 2021, SpaceX beat out Blue Origin for a $3 billion NASA contract to fly astronauts to the moon.
Despite Musk's criticisms of Bezos, the Amazon founder has been diplomatic in his comments, recently stating that he would "love the idea" of being friends with the Tesla mogul. Meanwhile, Bezos is also set to save roughly $600 million thanks to Florida's tax-friendly regulations after relocating from Seattle to Miami.
It remains to be seen whether Bezos can overtake Musk as the world's richest man. However, with his recent stock sales and Amazon's impressive financial performance, it seems he is definitely nipping at Musk's heels.