Jeff Bezos, Jamie Dimon, and Mark Zuckerberg have sold stock worth about $9 billion. They might think markets can’t go much higher.

All the sales were conducted under trading plans announced months in advance, which executives rely on so they can sell shares without investors thinking it means they have the inside track on bad news ahead — or that the stock has hit unsustainable highs.

Yet it’s certainly possible that Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Dimon decided to line up sales because their shares had ballooned in value, and cashing out was making more and more sense.

Meta stock has soared by 186% over the past year, JPMorgan is up nearly 30%, and Amazon has surged close to 90%. All three companies are trading close to record highs.

The trio might see limited upside for their stock prices from here, but corporate bosses make disposals for many reasons. For example, they might have a large tax bill coming up, or they might need cash to cover a big-ticket purchase like a mansion or superyacht.

Skin in the game

They might want to diversify their portfolio if virtually all their wealth is in one stock, or they might be rejigging their holdings as part of retirement or inheritance planning.

Still, executives are fully aware of the message it sends to markets when they sell large chunks of their company’s stock. Warren Buffett has famously never sold a share of Berkshire Hathaway.

He’s said that keeping more than 99% of his wealth in Berkshire stock means his interests are aligned with those of his shareholders, and that amount of “skin in the game” signals his long-term confidence in, and commitment to, his company.

It’s worth emphasizing that Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Dimon’s sales only represent small fractions of their stakes, so they’re still heavily invested in their respective companies’ success.

But notably they haven’t been buying shares, which would indicate they believe the best is yet to come, and they want more exposure to their companies in their personal portfolios.

Instead, they’ve been selling which risks sending the message that their shares are fully valued — and it’s time to take money off the table.