Jeff Bezos, with an estimated net worth of $240.9 billion, is currently the fourth richest man on the planet. Most of Bezos’ wealth comes from owning approximately 905 million shares in Amazon, the company he founded in 1994, took public in 1997 and helmed until 2021. But what was his Amazon stock origin story when it comes to building his wealth and shaping his fortune?
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The way Bezos handled his early stock sales set the path for decades of wealth accumulation that ultimately positioned him as the world’s fourth-wealthiest person. You can use lessons from his early years and more recent business activities to help secure your own financial future.
Quick Take: Amazon Stock’s Current Performance
Bezos’ Amazon holdings have fluctuated over the years as he has acquired and sold shares. For example, last November marked the completion of a planned divestment of 25 million shares announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last spring. Here are a few takeaways as to how the company’s stock is currently performing:
- Stock price: $222.69
- Market cap: $2.363 trillion
- 52-week high: $242.52
- 52-week low: $161.38
- P/E ratio: 33.73
Lesson 1: Start Where You Are
Bezos presumably used cash from Amazon stock sales to launch Blue Origin in 2000. And in 2017, Bezos said at an event that he sells around $1 billion worth of Amazon stock each year and uses it to fund the space company.
The company is private, so its financials aren’t available to the public. But even though it’s entirely possible that Bezos won’t live to see people colonize space, Blue Origin seems to at least be holding its own as it develops rockets and engines for commercial and government use. NASA alone has awarded Blue Origin more than half a billion dollars in contracts over the last several years.
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Lesson 2: Build Wealth Through Investing, Not Saving
When Bezos worked at Amazon, his salary stayed pretty stagnant at less than $82,000. But he’s been selling Amazon shares since shortly after its initial public offering, according to an analysis of Bezos’ stock sales. That means he has relied on money from stock sales to support his lifestyle and other business activities almost since day one, which appears to be working out for him.
Meanwhile, his wealth keeps on growing because it comes mostly from his Amazon holdings. Those holdings have appreciated far more over time than a savings account balance would have, ultimately providing Bezos with more cash than he could ever hope to spend.
Lesson 3: Leverage Your Investments Instead of Spending Your Salary
Bezos has sold Amazon shares fairly consistently over the years, so he always has had plenty of cash to spend and invest in other businesses despite a modest salary. But as Amazon shares have increased in value, Bezos has been able to draw increasingly more cash from fewer shares, leaving all those extra shares to continue building his wealth.
Raising cash by selling shares instead of increasing his salary has had the additional benefit of saving him a fortune in taxes. Whereas the highest personal income tax bracket is 35% for 2025, the top capital gains tax rate is just 20% in most cases.
What’s more, he pays tax on the proceeds of his stock sales rather than his accumulated wealth. For someone who has only their salary to spend, it’s the equivalent of being taxed at a low rate on what you spend versus being taxed at a higher rate on everything you earn — which is exactly how wage earners are taxed.
Lesson 4: Diversify Your Portfolio
Considering that the cumulative gain on Amazon stock is over an estimated 157,600% since its IPO, Bezos would’ve done quite well had he simply kept all of his wealth in Amazon stock. But he hasn’t.
Through Bezos Expeditions, the family office Bezos established in 2005, Bezos invests in dozens of different companies, including his own Blue Origin and the Washington Post.
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
Editor’s note: Amazon stock information sourced via Yahoo Finance and is accurate as of Aug. 11, 2025.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Lessons You Can Learn From Jeff Bezos’ Early Amazon Stock Sales
