Amazon operates AWS, the cloud business launched in 2006.
Amazon Web Services began offering products such as Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud in 2006. These services let organizations rent storage and computing capacity over the internet instead of building all infrastructure themselves. AWS helped establish cloud computing as a large commercial industry.
Amazon originally became famous as an online bookseller after its 1994 founding by Jeff Bezos. It expanded into a broad retail marketplace, logistics, devices, entertainment, and advertising. AWS became especially important because its operating profits could offset the thin margins common in retail. That combination of high-growth cloud services and global commerce helped Amazon become one of the world’s most valuable public companies.