Amazon is the online retailer that founded Amazon Web Services and is traded under the ticker AMZN.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and began as an online bookstore. It expanded into a broad marketplace selling products in many categories, while also developing logistics, digital media, devices, advertising, and cloud computing.
Amazon Web Services, or AWS, launched in 2006 and provides computing power, storage, databases, and other internet infrastructure to organizations. AWS became a major business alongside Amazon’s retail operations and is an important part of how investors assess the company’s value.
Amazon is often compared with Alibaba, but they are separate companies. Amazon’s shares trade in the United States under AMZN, while Alibaba’s American depositary shares use the ticker BABA.