Tycoon Jeff Bezos is the biggest loser from a sharp fall in Amazon’s share price on back of spending spree by firm he founded
Jeff Bezos was £12billion poorer after shares in online giant Amazon fell sharply in early trading on Friday.
The billionaire was the biggest casualty – on paper at least – from the rapid sell-off. Despite the sharp fall Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, was still sitting on a stake in the firm he founded that was still worth a staggering £150billion. His overall fortune has previously been estimated at £180billion.
Amazon’s share took a pasting after the industry goliath revealed plans to pump more funding into AI and robotics as part of a £147billion investment plan. It became the latest tech giant to commit to vast spending plans in a bid to keep pace with rivals across the sector. The investment, which covers 2026 alone, outpaces similar commitments by rivals including Microsoft and Google. Amazon’s spending will surge from £95.8billion in 2025 as it pours money into opening more data centres.
It comes only a week after Amazon told staff it plans to cut around 16,000 jobs globally, coming just months after a previous cull of 14,000 workers.
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At the same time The Washington Post – the newspaper group owned by Bezos – has this week announced savage plans to axe a third of its entire workfore. The cuts, announced on Wednesday, will hit employees across departments with roles in the newsroom’s sports, local and foreign sections hit particularly hard.
Marty Baron, who was The Post’s editor until 2021, called it “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations”. He said Bezos, who bought the newspaper for £180million in 2013, had spoken “forcefully and eloquently of a free press” during his time as paper’s editor. But Baron added: “I wish I detected the same spirit today. There is no sign of it.” One employee was quoting as saying: “It’s an absolute bloodbath.” The Post, under Bezos, has cut jobs before, including 240 at the end of 2023.
In June last year, Bezos tied the knot with TV presenter Lauren Sanchez in a lavish wedding in Venice. Reality stars, actors, royals and a host of A-listers – including Oprah Winfrey, Orlando Bloom, Kylie Jenner and Ivanka Trump – were invited to the star-stubbed three-day event. The spending spree announced by Amazon signals where its focus will be over the coming years.
“The market just dislikes the substantial amount of money that keeps getting put into capex (capital expenditure) for these growth rates,” said Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, initially selling books. It is now a sprawling empire with stock market value of £1.75trillion.
Amazon’s shares have fallen by more than 11% already in the year to date, further reducing the value of Bezos’s holding.
