Amazon became the first company in history to lose $1 trillion in market value in November 2022.
Amazon reached the distinction on November 9, 2022, after its share price had fallen sharply from its pandemic-era peak. The decline reflected weaker technology valuations, higher interest rates, slowing online-shopping growth, and investor concern about Amazon’s costs.
“Lost $1 trillion” describes the change in market capitalization from a previous high, not a one-day fall and not a $1 trillion cash loss. Market capitalization is the share price multiplied by shares outstanding, so a falling share price can erase enormous paper value.
Amazon’s retail, cloud, advertising, and logistics businesses continued operating. The milestone concerned the stock-market valuation of the whole company, not the disappearance of its physical assets or revenue.