Amazon was founded in 1994 as Cadabra before Jeff Bezos renamed it Amazon.
Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994 under the name Cadabra, a shortened form of “abracadabra.” The name was changed to Amazon after a lawyer misheard “Cadabra” as “cadaver,” and Bezos sought a name that suggested scale and breadth. Amazon.com launched as an online bookseller in 1995.
The name Amazon referred to the Amazon River, one of the world’s largest rivers. Bezos wanted the company to suggest that its selection could become extremely broad, rather than remaining limited to books. The company later expanded into many retail categories and services.
Amazon’s original business was therefore much narrower than its modern profile. Its current market value reflects retail, cloud computing through AWS, advertising, subscriptions such as Prime, devices, and logistics, not simply online book sales.