Amazon insider activity, one of the cause for stock weakness
AWS’s Poor Performance
In my previous post “When AWS is no longer impressive“, I analyzed the business fundamentals and explained that the primary reason for Amazon’s sluggish stock price in 2025 is that AWS’s performance significantly lags behind its peers, making it the worst-performing of the seven major tech stocks.
E-commerce Moat is Widing
The sluggish stock price of Amazon in 2025 is somewhat surprising, given that Amazon virtually monopolizes the e-commerce market in all of North America and Europe. Its moat has not weakened, but widened year after year, and its financial figures haven’t deteriorated enough to warrant stagnant stock prices.
Other Factors
Since the performance of Amazon’s three major business segments isn’t so poor as to warrant significant investor punishment, why is the stock price so depressed? I must reiterate: Amazon’s fundamentals, aside from the significant weakening of its cash flow generator due to stronger peers (note: AWS still holds the largest market share in the cloud computing market), seem to have no reason for its stock price to remain so depressed.
I found the only compelling reason
Amazon Insider Activities
Bezos
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s stake in the company has fallen below 10%. He disclosed in an October 15th SEC filing that after selling more than 100 million Amazon shares over the past year, he now holds approximately 9% of the company’s outstanding shares. Regulatory records show that a year ago, Bezos controlled approximately 10.1% of Amazon.
When Amazon went public in 1997, Jeff Bezos held over 43% of the shares. When Bezos stepped down as CEO in 2021 and handed over day-to-day operations to his successor, Andy Jassy, he held approximately 14% of the company.
MacKenzie Scott
The couple divorced in 2019. According to Forbes, MacKenzie Scott will be the world’s third-richest woman after the divorce, holding 4% of Amazon’s outstanding shares, worth $35.6 billion. Bezos owns 12% of Amazon, making her the company’s largest shareholder.
Over the past year, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of founder Jeff Bezos, has reduced her Amazon stake by 42%. According to a filing on September 30, Scott currently holds 81.1 million shares, down 58 million shares from a year ago.
Company Executives
Jeffrey P. Bezos (Executive Chairman)
Adopted a Rule 10b5-1 plan (March 4, 2025) allowing for the sale of up to 25,000,000 shares by May 29, 2026 (Company Disclosure).
June 27, 2025: Sold 3,324,926 shares (reported in the press release summarizing Form 4 details). This sale was part of the implementation of Rule 10b5-1 and was widely reported.
July 2025 Form 4s: Filed additional significant sales (e.g., Form 4 filed in July 2025 reporting additional sales – see index to July 2025 Form 4).
Andrew R. Jassy (President and CEO)
Reported routine sales in 2025 under the 10b5-1 plan (e.g., 19,872 shares reported on August 21, 2025; similar small, periodic sales were reported earlier in 2025). These reports indicate typical executive cash-outs, but Jassy still holds millions of shares.
Douglas J. Herrington (CEO, Amazon Worldwide Stores)
Reported several small sales on Form 4s in 2025 (e.g., 2,500 shares sold on September 2, 2025 at approximately $223.49 per share – a routine cash-out under the 10b5-1 plan). Other small sales/vestings were reported in August/May.
List of Significant Transactions
| Date | Insider (Role) | Transaction | Shares | Price-/Value* |
| 2025/6/27 | Jeffrey P. Bezos (Executive Chair) | Sale | 3,324,926 | ~$221.56/share → ≈ $736.7 m |
| 2025/7/3 | Jeffrey P. Bezos | Sale | 2,974,445 | ~$223.86/share → ≈ $665.9 m |
| 2025/7/8 | Jeffrey P. Bezos | Sale | 485,205 | ~$223.99/share → ≈ $108.7 m |
| 2025/9/2 | Douglas J. Herrington (CEO – Worldwide Stores) | Sale | 2,500 | ~$223.49/share → ≈ $0.56 m |
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