Amazon.com, Inc. began as an online store specializing in books.
Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994, and the website began operating in 1995. Books were a practical starting category because millions of titles existed, while no physical bookstore could stock every available work. Amazon initially operated under the name “Cadabra” before adopting Amazon.
The company expanded from books into music, video, electronics, household goods, groceries, digital media, and business services. Amazon Web Services became a major cloud-computing business, while logistics and fulfillment infrastructure helped support its retail operations.
Amazon’s expansion made it one of the largest public companies by market capitalization. Its original book business is still an important part of the company’s origin story, but modern Amazon is much broader than an online bookstore.