Amazon became the second U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization in 2018.
Amazon crossed the milestone on September 4, 2018, about one month after Apple became the first U.S. company to reach $1 trillion. Investors valued Amazon not only for online retail but also for Amazon Web Services, logistics, subscriptions, advertising, and its expanding ecosystem of consumer products.
Market capitalization is not the same as sales. Amazon’s revenue was far below $1 trillion when its stock-market value reached that level. The market value represented investors’ assessment of future earnings, growth, and competitive strength.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online bookstore and began operating in 1995. Its transformation into a broad technology and commerce company explains why its valuation cannot be compared only with traditional retailers. The company later became one of the world’s largest cloud providers through AWS.