Amazon operates the world’s largest online retail marketplace and became one of the first firms valued above $1 trillion.
Amazon crossed a $1 trillion market capitalization in September 2018, shortly after Apple reached the same landmark. The company began as an online bookseller but expanded into a broad marketplace offering products from both Amazon and independent sellers.
Its market value also reflected businesses beyond retail. Amazon Web Services became a major cloud-computing provider, while advertising, logistics, streaming, and subscription services added important sources of revenue and profit.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and began operations in 1995. It is often confused with Alibaba, another global e-commerce leader, but the two companies developed in different markets and corporate systems. Amazon’s ticker symbol is AMZN.