Amazon became the first online retailer to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Amazon crossed the milestone in September 2018, shortly after Apple achieved the same distinction. The company had grown far beyond online bookselling, with major businesses in retail, logistics, cloud computing, digital media, advertising, and subscription services.
Amazon Web Services became especially important to the company’s financial profile. Its cloud infrastructure business served organizations around the world and helped diversify Amazon beyond low-margin retail operations.
The milestone refers to market capitalization, not total sales. Amazon’s stock price reflected investors’ expectations for future growth across its different businesses. Alibaba and other internet retailers were also extremely valuable, but Amazon was the first in this specific category to pass the trillion-dollar mark.