Amazon was founded in 1994 as an online bookstore before becoming a global market-cap leader.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in Bellevue, Washington, in 1994, and the company began selling books online in July 1995. Bezos chose books because a large catalog could be offered online more easily than in a physical store. The company later expanded into many product categories and services.
Amazon’s businesses eventually included online retail, third-party marketplace services, Prime subscriptions, digital media, devices, and Amazon Web Services. AWS became a major cloud-computing business and helped diversify Amazon beyond retail.
Amazon went public in 1997 on the Nasdaq. Its market capitalization reflects investors’ expectations about all of these businesses, not simply retail sales. A frequent mix-up is treating Amazon as only an e-commerce company; its cloud, advertising, logistics, and subscription operations are also important parts of its valuation.