The founder of Amazon recently did something unexpected, he made a profit of $12 of Amazon, a first in 2 decades. In a surprising move, Jeff Bezos bought a single share of Amazon marking his first known purchase of the company’s stock in 2 decades for about $115 updating his wealth or his net worth by 1 share.
Theories on his purchase
Many feel, Bezos may have been channeling Elon Musk and trolling Wall Street. Some see it as a provocation as they cannot find meaning in it. Many were boggled and went over the document with the information numerous times, still they were not able to fathom 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 or news.
[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]Amazon’s billionaire founder and executive chair reported the May 25 trade to the Securities and Exchange Commission at 4.20 p.m. ET the next day. He also disclosed a gift of more than 69,000 shares to a nonprofit in the same filing.
The bizarre single share purchase and the numbers implied by the reporting time and the stock donation 4:20 and 69 have fueled speculation that Bezos may have been mimicking his rival Elon Musk.
Elon Musk has made plenty of playful references to the number “42” a reference to Weed Day on April 20, and the answer to the “ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything” in “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “69” in recent years. For example, Musk initially offered to acquire Twitter for $42 billion last year before sealing the deal at $44 billion.
Bezos paid $114.77 for his Amazon share. If one subtracts the shares he donated, and as per Jeff Bezos earnings or wealth update his stake stood at 990,476,371 shares, worth $122 billion as of Friday’s close. Amazon stock has surged 47% this year, boosting the market capitalization of the ecommerce and cloud services giant to $1.3 trillion. Bezos’ roughly 990 million shares represent a nearly 10% stake in the company and account for most of Bezos $147 billion net worth, as estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bezos’ recent purchase is notable because he’s overwhelmingly been a seller of Amazon stock in the past 20 years. Indeed, he’s cashed out about $30 billion of stock to help finance his Blue Origin rocket company and fund other personal and business interests, per Bloomberg.
Increasing stock price
Bezos made a good deal. Bezos has recently 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. A broader rally of Big Tech stocks has lifted Amazon shares this year, as investors wagered that leading US tech companies would profit from the artificial-intelligence boom.
