Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, became one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.
Bezos established Amazon in 1994, and the business began as an online bookseller. It expanded into a broad online marketplace, logistics network, subscription services, digital media, consumer devices, and cloud computing.
Amazon Web Services, or AWS, became a particularly important part of the company’s business. It provides computing, storage, databases, and other infrastructure services to organizations worldwide. The combination of retail scale and cloud technology helped investors view Amazon as more than a traditional retailer.
Amazon’s stock began trading publicly in 1997. Like other large public companies, its market capitalization changes daily with its share price. The company’s name refers to the Amazon River, chosen to suggest exceptional size and breadth.