Jeff Bezos established Amazon in 1994.
Bezos incorporated the company in July 1994 under the name Cadabra, Inc. He soon changed the name to Amazon, inspired by the vast scale associated with the Amazon River. The business began as an online bookstore because books offered a large catalog that traditional stores could not easily stock.
Amazon launched its website in 1995 and initially operated from Bellevue, Washington, before moving its headquarters to Seattle. The company later expanded into electronics, cloud computing, digital media, logistics, advertising, and many other businesses.
A common mix-up is treating 1995 as Amazon’s founding year. 1995 was the year the website began selling books to the public; the company itself was founded in 1994. Amazon became a Fortune 500 company as its sales expanded far beyond its original bookstore model.