Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos will sell 50 million shares in the online retail and cloud services firm over the next one year, according to a company filing on Friday.

The securities is worth $8.6 billion at the current price of $172.13 a share. The sale plan was adopted on Nov. 8 last year and it will be completed by Jan. 31 next year, according to the company's latest annual report.

Amazon shares were up 8% on Friday after the e-commerce heavyweight reported higher-than-expected sales for the holiday quarter and its lucrative cloud business signaled early gains from AI-powered features.

Bezos founded Amazon as a bookseller in 1994. He stepped down as its chief executive and took over as executive chairman in 2021.

He is currently the world's third richest person with a net worth of $185 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

  - Reuters