Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sells $737 million worth of Amazon shares under Rule 10b5-1: What it is

Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos has sold around $737 million worth of Amazon stock in recent days. This is the biggest major divestment made by Jeff Bezos this year. The transactions made by Bezos were executed under the prearranged trading plan known as Rule 10b5-1. For those unaware, Rule 10b5-1 is a regulation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that lets insiders at public companies set up a plan to sell their shares ahead of time. Under this rule, major shareholders can schedule the sale of a fixed number of shares at a set time, helping them avoid accusations of insider trading. Many company executives use 10b5-1 plans for this reason. The rule was introduced to clarify Rule 10b-5, part of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which is the main law used to investigate securities fraud.