Amazon became the second company to reach a $1 trillion stock-market value in September 2018, following Apple’s milestone the previous month.
Amazon’s share price rose sharply as investors valued its dominant online marketplace, expanding cloud business, advertising operation, and subscription services. Its market capitalization crossed the threshold during trading on September 4, 2018, although the exact intraday figure fluctuated with the share price.
The milestone is often confused with Amazon’s founding date or with its later ranking among the world’s most valuable companies. Reaching a trillion-dollar market capitalization does not mean Amazon had one trillion dollars in cash; it means the market value of all outstanding shares reached that level.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online bookstore. Its cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services, became a major source of revenue and profit, helping investors value the company far beyond traditional retail comparisons.