Amazon joined the trillion-dollar market-capitalization club in September 2018 as the second U.S. company.
Its shares crossed the level during trading on September 4, 2018. Apple had become the first U.S. company to reach $1 trillion a month earlier, so Amazon’s achievement quickly made it the second member of that small group.
Amazon’s valuation reflected the growth of its online retail operations, Amazon Web Services, advertising business, and subscription products such as Prime. Unlike a company’s revenue, market capitalization represents the market value of all its outstanding shares.
Amazon’s stock later experienced substantial declines during market downturns, showing that trillion-dollar status is not permanent. Alphabet, Microsoft, and other large technology companies subsequently joined the group.