Jeff Bezos Buys Single Amazon Share, Possibly Mimicking Elon Musk

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s billionaire founder and executive chair, made an unexpected move by purchasing a single share of Amazon for around $115 in late May. This is his first known acquisition of the company’s stock in more than 20 years, leading to speculation that he might be engaging in Elon Musk-style trolling.

Bezos reported the transaction to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at 4:20 p.m. ET the following day and disclosed a gift of over 69,000 shares to a non-profit organization in the same filing. The unusual single-share purchase and the numbers implied by the reporting time and stock donation (4:20 and 69) have fueled rumors that Bezos could be imitating Musk, who has made numerous playful references to these numbers in recent years.

Amazon’s stock price has increased since Bezos’ purchase, leading to a small profit on his unconventional investment. The company’s market capitalization stands at $1.3 trillion, with Bezos’ approximately 990 million shares accounting for most of his $147 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Over the past two decades, Bezos has primarily been a seller of Amazon stock, cashing out about $30 billion to finance Blue Origin and other personal and business interests.