Amazon operates the e-commerce marketplace founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in Bellevue, Washington, in 1994. The company opened its website in 1995 and gradually expanded from books into electronics, household goods, groceries, digital media, and third-party marketplace services.
Amazon’s business became broader than retail. Amazon Web Services, launched in 2006, provides computing, storage, and database infrastructure to organizations worldwide. Advertising, subscriptions such as Prime, logistics, and devices also contribute to the company’s operations.
A frequent misconception is that Amazon’s market value comes only from its online stores. Retail remains central, but cloud computing has been a particularly important source of revenue and profit. Amazon’s share-price movements therefore reflect both consumer spending and demand for enterprise technology.