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Jeff Bezos Remains Amazon's Largest Individual Shareholder With Roughly 900 Million Shares. Here's Why That Stake Still Anchors the Stock.

· Nasdaq Market Structure

Key Points

  • Founder Jeff Bezos remains the company's largest shareholder.

  • His Amazon stake accounts for the bulk of his wealth.

  • The shares haven't kept up with the overall market this year.

  • These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

It's hard to remember that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) started as an online bookseller in 1994. Thanks to co-founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos' vision, it quickly grew to sell virtually everything imaginable online. Today, it has added physical stores, devices, a streaming service, advertising services, and a cloud-computing platform.

Bezos remains Amazon's largest shareholder, which should give investors confidence. Still, looking closer at the holdings and the company, should you follow his lead and make the stock part of your core long-term holdings?

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

The co-founder retains a large ownership

Bezos' vast fortune has been estimated at $280 billion. His Amazon shares make up the vast majority of his net worth.

The founder owned 950.4 million shares at the end of February, according to Amazon's annual proxy filing. That works out to a $245.7 billion value for his stake, based on the current share price.

Aside from accounting for the largest portion of his net worth, Bezos owned 8.8% of Amazon's outstanding shares, as of the end of February. Vanguard Group and BlackRock are the next-largest shareholders, at 7.2% and 5.9%, respectively.

Should you follow suit?

While not running the day-to-day operations as CEO, Bezos clearly believes in the company's future. After all, what better way to express confidence than with your wallet? He also retains a role with Amazon as executive chair.

While the shares have handsomely rewarded shareholders over the years, they have trailed the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) this year. Year to date, through Sept. 4, Amazon's stock gained 12%, while the index, including dividends, returned 13.7%.

However, Amazon's long-term future looks bright. Some investors have been put off by management's decision to invest heavily, particularly in areas like data centers, to meet growing demand for generative artificial intelligence. However, given the vast growth potential and Amazon's No. 1 market position in cloud computing via its Amazon Web Services (AWS) business, it looks like an astute investment.

AWS is already growing quickly, with a 36.8% year-over-year gain in second-quarter sales to $42.2 billion. It's also the company's largest profit generator, accounting for 60.5% of operating income.

Looking at the entire company, Amazon's second-quarter sales grew 20% year over year to $200.6 billion. Operating income increased by more than 43% to $27.5 billion.

You shouldn't invest solely based on someone's holdings, even someone as astute as Bezos. However, given management's commitment to long-term growth and patient investing, Amazon belongs in your portfolio. It may not make you a billionaire, but it should allow you to grow your wealth over time.

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Lawrence Rothman, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and BlackRock. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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