Bezos sells $2B in Amazon shares | Inside a middle-school esports team

There’s a new sports team at Islander Middle School, teaching students teamwork and communication — through video games. Freelance journalist Nathalie Graham spent an after-school practice session with the recently established esports team, made up of 13 students who compete as part of the Washington State Scholastic Esports Association. "Gaming is a huge industry and a large part of our students’ lives,” said Sarah Olson, a computer programming teacher who helped start the team. “We wanted to tap into that passion and help students who might be typically isolated into a place where they could form friendships and compete together.” Read the story.

Networking, collaboration, mentorship, education, funding, and sense of belonging. Those were some of the themes and needs that emerged from Black Tech Night in Seattle on Thursday as the regular gathering marked one year since its launch. Pictured above, from left, James Miles (moderator), Seattle Office of Economic Development; Monique L. Thompson, Amazon; Joshua Donaldson, Electronic Arts; and Trish Millines Dziko, Technology Access Foundation. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Read more.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we examine the timing of Jeff Bezos' plan to sell up to 50 million shares of Amazon stock, in the context of his public announcement that he would be moving to Miami; assess Satya Nadella's track record as Microsoft CEO as he reaches 10 years in the role; and test an example of how AI apps could change the way we read printed books.

• After we finished recording, a filing showed that Bezos sold $2 billion worth of Amazon shares under the plan, his first stock sale since 2021.

• Read more and listen here, and subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Super Bowl Hot Links: 

• T-Mobile and Microsoft are among the companies paying big bucks for Super Bowl ads this year. (iSpot)

• Amazon reportedly inked a deal with the NFL to stream a playoff game next season, bolstering its live sports ambitions. (CNBC)

• Swiftie viz: Tableau users created data visualizations for the Super Bowl to help show everything from hometowns of the players to what words make up Taylor Swift’s most famous love songs. (Salesforce)  

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, enjoy the game, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; and GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com.