Bezos' Enduring Faith in Amazon: A $245 Billion Stake

Amazon's stock has been a long-term winner for investors, but it hasn't performed as well this year. Despite this, its largest shareholder, Jeff Bezos, remains committed to the company's future and retains a significant ownership stake.

Bezos' net worth is estimated at $280 billion, with his Amazon shares accounting for the vast majority of that amount. He owns approximately 950.4 million shares, which are currently valued at around $245.7 billion based on the stock's current price.

This gives Bezos an 8.8% stake in the company, making him its largest individual shareholder. Vanguard Group and BlackRock hold the next-largest stakes, at 7.2% and 5.9%, respectively.

While Amazon's shares have underperformed the S&P 500 index this year, with a 12% gain compared to the index's 13.7% return, its long-term prospects look promising. The company's cloud-computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is growing rapidly, with a 36.8% year-over-year increase in sales to $42.2 billion in the second quarter.

AWS also accounts for 60.5% of Amazon's operating income. Considering this growth and the company's market position, investing in Amazon may be a good long-term decision.