Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost $17 billion in just one day, after Amazon’s second-quarter earnings were announced last week.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Bezos’ net worth dropped from $254 billion on July 31 to $237 billion on August 1. This happened after Amazon’s stock fell by 8.27% on August 1, following the release of its earnings report.
What Happened with Amazon’s Earnings?
- Revenue: Amazon earned $167.7 billion in the second quarter, which was better than expected (analysts predicted $161.9 billion).
- Profit: The company earned $1.68 per share, beating the expected $1.30 per share.
Despite the strong results, investors were worried about the slowdown in Amazon Web Services (AWS)—the company’s cloud business.
- AWS revenue was $10.2 billion, a 17.5% increase from last year, but lower than the 20% growth analysts expected.
Why Did Bezos Lose So Much?
Bezos owns about 884 million Amazon shares, which is 8.3% of the company. When Amazon’s stock price dropped, the value of those shares dropped too—leading to a major dip in his total net worth.
Most of his wealth comes from Amazon stock (valued at $190 billion), while the rest is tied to Blue Origin, his private space company.
Bezos Has Been Selling Amazon Shares
In July, Bezos sold about $737 million worth of Amazon shares, and later sold another 6.6 million shares. Over the last two years, he has sold around $4.8 billion worth of stock.
Read more: Jeff Bezos Sells $1.5 Billion in Amazon Shares — Plans to Sell More
His most recent sale happened on July 21 and 22, as part of a preplanned trading plan known as Rule 10b5-1, which allows company insiders to sell stocks at scheduled times.
