Amazon became the first company to lose $1 trillion in market value after being founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in July 1994, initially operating the business as an online bookseller. The company’s website began selling books in 1995, and Amazon later expanded into many retail categories, digital content, devices, and cloud computing.
In November 2022, Amazon’s market capitalization fell by roughly $1 trillion from its peak as its share price declined. Rising interest rates, slower growth expectations, and weaker technology-stock valuations contributed to the fall. The milestone described a change in market value, not a $1 trillion cash payment or accounting loss.
Amazon Web Services is a major part of the company’s business and is separate from the retail marketplace in its financial reporting. Market-cap losses can occur even when a company continues to generate revenue and operate normally.