Amazon launched the online marketplace Amazon.com in July 1995.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, originally naming the business Cadabra before choosing Amazon. The website began as an online bookstore because books offered a large selection that was difficult for a physical store to stock completely.
Amazon soon expanded beyond books into music, electronics, household goods, and almost every major retail category. It also developed Amazon Web Services, Prime membership, logistics operations, advertising, and entertainment businesses.
This diversification helped Amazon become one of the world’s most valuable public companies. Its market capitalization is based on the current value investors assign to all outstanding shares, not on the total value of goods sold through the website. That distinction matters because Amazon’s marketplace includes many third-party sellers.
Amazon went public in 1997 on the Nasdaq exchange. Its long-term growth story is often associated with reinvestment, scale, and the expansion of internet commerce and cloud computing.