Amazon became the second publicly traded company to exceed a US$1 trillion market capitalization, following Apple, in September 2018.
Amazon's rise reflected the expansion of its online retail business, Amazon Web Services, advertising operations, logistics network, and subscription products. Investors valued the company not only as a retailer but also as a diversified technology and cloud-services business.
The milestone occurred about one month after Apple became the first US$1 trillion company. Market capitalization is based on the current share price and the number of shares outstanding, so the threshold can be crossed briefly during trading and later move below it.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online bookstore. Its development into a broad marketplace and cloud-computing provider is a major reason it became one of the world's largest companies by market value.