Amazon was the second U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization, after Apple.
Amazon crossed the $1 trillion threshold on September 4, 2018, about one month after Apple achieved the distinction. The milestone reflected investor expectations for continued growth in online retail, cloud computing, digital advertising, and subscription services.
Amazon began as an online bookstore founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, but it expanded into a broad technology and commerce company. Amazon Web Services became a particularly important contributor to the company’s growth and profitability.
Market capitalization measures the value assigned by shareholders, not the company’s cumulative sales. Amazon’s enormous revenue base and Apple’s earlier milestone are related but different facts. Microsoft, Alphabet, and other major U.S. companies later joined the trillion-dollar group.