Amazon became the second U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization, after Apple.
Amazon crossed the milestone in September 2018, only weeks after Apple became the first U.S. company to reach $1 trillion. The achievement reflected investor expectations for continued growth in online retail, cloud computing, digital advertising, and subscription services rather than retail sales alone.
Amazon began as an online bookstore founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. It expanded into many product categories and developed Amazon Web Services, which became one of the world’s largest cloud-computing businesses. AWS gave Amazon a major source of operating profit and connected its market value to the growth of enterprise technology infrastructure.
Amazon is often described simply as a retailer, but that label misses much of its business. The company also operates logistics networks, streaming services, advertising platforms, devices, and cloud infrastructure. Its market capitalization therefore reflects expectations about several industries at once.