Amazon is the parent company of the online retailer Amazon and the cloud business Amazon Web Services, or AWS.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore. The company expanded into a broad marketplace selling many product categories, while AWS developed into a major provider of cloud computing, storage, databases, and related services.
AWS is financially important because cloud services can produce different margins and growth patterns from retail operations. Amazon also operates Prime subscriptions, advertising services, devices, logistics, and entertainment businesses. This broad mix helps explain why investors evaluate Amazon as more than an online shop.
Amazon has frequently ranked among the world's most valuable public companies by market capitalization. Its market cap reflects the current share price and outstanding shares, so it can rise or fall independently of a single quarterly sales figure.