Amazon operates a global online marketplace and owns Amazon Web Services.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore. The company broadened its selection over time and became a major retailer, marketplace operator, logistics business, and digital-services provider.
Amazon Web Services, commonly called AWS, provides computing power, storage, databases, and other cloud services to organizations. AWS became an important contributor to Amazon’s operating income and helped diversify the company beyond retail.
Amazon’s market capitalization reflects both businesses and investor expectations about their future performance. Retail sales and cloud services have different economics, so analysts often discuss them separately even though they belong to the same corporation. Amazon’s shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker AMZN.