Amazon, one of the world's largest companies by market capitalization, was founded as an online retailer of books.
Jeff Bezos established the company in 1994, and Amazon began operating online in 1995. Books were a practical starting category because an online store could offer a much larger selection than most physical bookstores.
The company was originally called Cadabra, Inc., before Bezos changed the name to Amazon. The name suggested scale and eventually became associated with a business that expanded far beyond books.
Amazon now operates major businesses in online retail, cloud computing, digital streaming, devices, logistics, and advertising. Amazon Web Services, launched in the 2000s, became a particularly important part of the company. A common misconception is that Amazon began as a general online department store; its initial focus was much narrower.