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2025 was a big win for executives, founders, and directors at major tech companies as they turned their paper fortunes into actual cash as tech stocks reached new highs. According to insider trading data compiled and analyzed by Bloomberg, they sold over $16 billion worth of their own company stock in 2025, one of the largest aggregations of executive stock sales in recent years.
Most of these insider sales were executed under prearranged trading plans (called Rule 10b5-1 plans) and are schedules filed with the U.S. SEC (Form 4) before the sales occur to avoid accusations of trading on non-public information. It's also worth noting that the sales total refers only to shares sold by insiders themselves, not shareholder trading or institutional sales.
The Biggest Stocks Sold
The Insider stock sales totaling more than $16 billion, in descending order:
| Name | Company | Approx. Shares Sold | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Bezos | Amazon | $5.7 B | Sold 25M shares mid-year; timing coincided with high stock valuations. |
| Safra Catz | Oracle (former CEO) | $2.5 B | Large sales are often linked to exercising stock options. |
| Michael Dell | Dell Technologies | $2.2 B | Continued diversification of wealth. |
| Jensen Huang | Nvidia | $1 B | Sold while Nvidia hit a historic $5 trillion market cap. |
| Jayshree Ullal | Arista Networks | $1 B | The sale came as the company’s networking gear demand surged. |
| Mark Zuckerberg | Meta | $945 M | Sold mostly via his foundation. |
| Nikesh Arora | Palo Alto Networks | $700M+ | Reported among top sellers. |
| Baiju Bhatt | Robinhood (co-founder) | $700M+ | Also executed large sales. |
The sales are not necessarily spontaneous judgments that the stock is overvalued because the "Rule 10b5-1 plans" allow insiders to sell shares at predetermined times or price targets, even if the market jumps afterward. But the driver of these sales was the AI boom and the resulting surge in tech stock valuations. Many of the companies involved in the sales saw profits and share prices rise on the back of AI adoption and investor enthusiasm, making it a lucrative window to sell.
Many executives sold shares simply to diversify their personal financial positions. After years of holding concentrated equity (often the biggest portion of their net worth), it’s typical for founders and CEOs to gradually lock in gains. But some market commentators note that these kinds of sales are routine because executives sell when stocks hit high valuations, when they want to diversify wealth, or when they want to fund personal projects.
