Bezos Marvels at Marriage while Offloading $737 Million in Shares
In a move that has raised discussions about wealth and taxation, Jeff Bezos, the fourth wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $234.4 billion, has sold 3.3 million shares of Amazon for $737 million. This sale marks his first transaction in 2025 and comes after a significant sale of $13.6 billion in Amazon shares in 2024.
The timing of the stock sale coincides with Bezos' three-day wedding celebration in Venice, attended by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the Kardashians. The extravagant event, estimated to cost over $20 million, is more than 600 times the average American wedding cost.
Bezos remains Amazon's largest individual shareholder, but his ownership has reduced from 42% to less than 9% due to selling, giving away, and transferring portions of his stake. The proceeds from these sales can fund philanthropy, space ventures, AI investments, and expensive events like a wedding.
The low effective tax rate of Jeff Bezos, compared to what might be expected based on his vast wealth, has been a subject of debate. From 2014 to 2018, Bezos’s effective tax rate was less than 1% of his true income, according to ProPublica. Other analyses suggest a true tax rate of about 1.1%. This is significantly lower than the average American, who typically pays an effective federal income tax rate of 10–15%, and even many of the ultra-wealthy.
The discrepancy in tax rates can be attributed to most of Bezos' income deriving from unrealized capital gains and asset appreciation rather than taxable wages or realized capital gains. In 2024, Bezos sold $13.6 billion in Amazon shares and paid an estimated $2.7 billion in taxes, which is less than 5% of his realized gains in the stock value and about 1% of his net worth.
Greenpeace activists protested the wedding, unfurling a banner that read, "If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax." The call for increased taxation is a reflection of the ongoing conversation about wealth inequality and the role of the ultra-wealthy in society.
[1] ProPublica. (2021). Jeff Bezos Paid $9.1 Billion in Federal Income Taxes Over Three Decades, Despite Reported Worth of $197 Billion. [online] Available at: https://www.propublica.org/article/jeff-bezos-paid-9-1-billion-in-federal-income-taxes-over-three-decades-despite-reported-worth-of-197-billion
[2] CNBC. (2021). Jeff Bezos' effective tax rate is less than 1% — here's how he's paying so little. [online] Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/16/jeff-bezos-effective-tax-rate-is-less-than-1-heres-how-hes-paying-so-little.html
[3] Equitable Growth. (2021). Jeff Bezos's Taxes: A Tale of Two Numbers. [online] Available at: https://equitablegrowth.org/jeff-bezos-taxes-a-tale-of-two-numbers/
[4] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2020). Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data. [online] NBER.org. Available at: https://www.nber.org/papers/w27558.pdf
- Jeff Bezos, the world's fourth richest person and Amazon's largest individual shareholder, is actively managing his wealth through stock sales and investments, with recent transactions totalling over $737 million in 2025, demonstrating the intersection of finance, wealth-management, and business in his personal-finance strategy.
- The financial decision to sell millions of shares of Amazon stock by Bezos, while attending a luxurious Venice wedding that cost over $20 million, sparked discourse about wealth, taxation, and wealth inequality, with Greenpeace activists highlighting the discrepancy between such extravagant spending and low effective tax rates among billionaires like himself.
