Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, is among the world’s most valuable companies by market capitalization.
Bezos established Amazon in Bellevue, Washington, in July 1994. The business began as an online bookstore and expanded into a broad marketplace selling products across many categories. Its growth also produced major businesses in cloud computing, logistics, digital media, and consumer devices.
Amazon Web Services, or AWS, launched in 2006 and became one of the company’s most important divisions. AWS provides computing, storage, databases, and other infrastructure services to organizations worldwide. This diversification helped Amazon evolve far beyond its original retail identity.
Amazon went public in 1997, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker AMZN. Its market capitalization reflects the value investors assign to the entire company, including retail, advertising, subscriptions, logistics, and AWS. A common mix-up is treating Amazon solely as an online shop rather than a diversified technology and commerce group.