Amazon created the Prime shopping program and acquired Whole Foods Market in 2017.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookseller, and the company began operating under the Amazon name in 1995. It expanded rapidly into many categories, eventually becoming a major marketplace for third-party sellers as well as a direct retailer.
Amazon Prime launched in 2005 as a subscription service offering faster shipping. It later added streaming video, music, reading, and other benefits, making Prime a broader consumer ecosystem rather than simply a delivery program. Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market, completed in 2017, strengthened its presence in physical grocery retail.
Amazon is sometimes confused with Alibaba because both operate large online marketplaces, but they have different corporate structures and primary geographic strengths. Amazon also owns Amazon Web Services, a major cloud-computing business. Retail, advertising, logistics, devices, and cloud services together explain why Amazon ranks among the world’s most valuable companies by market capitalization.