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Amazon Insider: Does Jeff Bezos know something?

May 5, 2009 10:55 am

Just as the markets are seeming to be on the way to new highs and Amazon.com (AMZN) announces a new Kindle device, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is thinning out his holdings. Perhaps it is a planned sale or the desire to diversify (a common rebuttal when critics ask about large insider selling).

No matter, it is a big chunk that is being sold into what appears to be the launching pad for Amazon shares.

Ticker     Owner     Date     Type    Price    #Shares     Value ($)     Shares Remaining
AMZN    Jeffrey Bezos    1-May    Sale    78.82    800,000    $63,055,865    96,366,856
AMZN    Jeffrey Bezos    4-May    Sale    80.01    200,000    $16,001,392    96,166,856
AMZN    Jeffrey Bezos    1-May    Sale    79.09    1,075,000    $85,021,428    98,250,639
AMZN    Jeffrey Bezos    2-May    Sale    77.55    1,075,000    $83,361,950    97,175,639
AMZN    Jeffrey Bezos    15-Feb    Sale    73.21    1,850,000    $135,442,015    99,325,891

Total    $382,882,650

Of course insider sales are often said to be less than accurate at predicting the direction of a stock, but selling is often a better indicator of future moves than buys. CEOs and management will usually have an uncommon optimism about their company’s prospects into the future as they are saturated with the company story, day in and day out. Yet sales of this magnitude need to be looked at carefully, especially given the current state of these fragile markets.

(Click chart for Amazon insider transactions)

amazon

Retail stocks have been on fire over the past few months as they have seemed to defy gravity in this uncommon recession. Amazon has emerged as the clear winner as they have executed flawlessly and provided a constant and reliable string of earnings year in and year out. Remember, it was only 10 years ago that most market experts has a forecast that this online-bookseller would be out of business by the end of 2002.

Perhaps now is a time to take some money off of the table, even  if you have been a happy Amazon shareholder.

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Written by Andrew Horowitz · Category(s) Markets, Short Ideas, Stocks    |  Tags:   

2 Responses to “Amazon Insider: Does Jeff Bezos know something?”

  1. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Unloads $250 Million Worth of Amazon Stock in 5 Days on May 5th, 2009 12:28 pm

    [...] Worth of Amazon Stock in 5 Days Author: Mac Slavo – May 5th, 2009 Inquiring minds want to know why CEO of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos has unloaded $380 Million worth of Amazon stock since February, and over $250 million in just the last 5 days as Amazon stock is rising during the market rally. [...]

  2. Henry Jones on November 2nd, 2010 9:14 am

    Hi, it's a good post. I will recommend it to my friends as they have been looking for such information.

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