Saudi Aramco's profit plunges 73 percent _ Jeff Bezos sold $ 3 billion worth of Amazon stock

• 2020-08-11
• News

Saudi Aramco's profit plunges 73 percent

Saudi Aramco's second-quarter net profit fell 73% as the Covid-19 outbreak crippled global crude demand.

The company's net profit fell to 24.6 billion riyals ($6.6 billion) in the quarter ended June 30. In the same quarter last year, it was 92.6 billion riyals ($24.7 billion).

Saudi Aramco also said that in the first half of this year, the company's net profit fell by 50% to 87.1 billion riyals ($23.2 billion) from 175.9 billion riyals ($46.9 billion) last year.

"Strong headwinds from reduced demand and lower oil prices are reflected in our second-quarter results," CEO Amin Nasser said, adding that the company is trying to adapt to the unprecedented conditions that have created by the Pandemic. "We see a partial recovery in the energy market as countries around the world take steps to ease restrictions and reboot their economies."

Jeff Bezos sold $ 3 billion worth of Amazon stock

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission compiled by OpenInsider, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sold more than $ 3.1 billion worth of shares this week.

Bezos had already sold more than $ 4.1 billion worth of shares earlier this year. 

This week's sales bring his total cash out in 2020 to $ 7.2 billion.

Jeff Bezos still owns more than 54 million Amazon shares, worth more than $170 billion, making him the richest person in the world.

By way of comparison, Bezos sold $ 2.8 billion worth of shares last year and had previously said that he would sell $ 1 billion worth of Amazon stock to fund his space exploration company, Blue Origin.