Amazon operates the Amazon online marketplace and uses the stock ticker AMZN.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore, and the website began selling books in 1995. The company later expanded into electronics, household goods, clothing, groceries, digital media, and many other categories. Its marketplace also allows independent sellers to offer products through Amazon’s platform.
Amazon Web Services became another major business. AWS provides cloud-computing infrastructure, storage, databases, and other services to companies and governments. Amazon also operates Prime subscriptions, advertising services, logistics networks, and entertainment businesses.
Amazon went public in 1997 on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Its market capitalization is calculated from the AMZN share price and its total shares outstanding. The company is therefore often discussed with technology giants even though its operations combine retail, logistics, cloud computing, advertising, and media.