The Message in Bezos’ and Zuckerberg’s Stock Sales
A pickup in insider sales — particularly by executives at Magnificent Seven companies — isn’t as worrisome as it may seem.
Insiders aren’t top-pickers as some fear.
Photographer: Angela Weiss/ AFP via Getty Images
With the S&P 500 near all-time highs, insider share sales have picked up at top-performing companies. This quarter alone, Jeff Bezos sold about $9 billion in Amazon.com Inc. stock and Mark Zuckerberg’s net sales of Meta Platforms Inc. amounted to around $850 million. While some observers view these developments ominously, I see them as a sign of a healthy mid-cycle market with some room to run.
Let’s start with the big picture. Among the closely watched Magnificent Seven growth stocks, net sales by insiders are at their highest since late 2021. But many insiders stopped selling entirely from mid-2022 through late 2023, and it’s natural to expect some catch-up to address executives’ desire for liquidity and portfolio diversification.