Amazon.com, Inc., better known as Amazon, is an American ecommerce and cloud computing company headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
Amazon first started as an online bookstore in 1995, later expanding into selling Blu-rays, DVDs, CDs, video downloads/streaming, apparel, electronics, food, toys, jewelry and much more. Today, it is the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States as it surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in 2015. Founder Jeff Bezos had a vision for the company’s substantial growth and e-commerce domination.
Key Dates:
1995: Amazon.com debuts online, calling itself “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore”
1997: Company goes public and becomes the first Internet retailer to secure one million customers
1998: Company enters the online video and music business; acquires companies in the United Kingdome and Germany
1999: Company expands into selling electronics, tools, hardware, and toys; Bezos was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”
2001: Company reports its first net profit during Q4
2002: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launched, which provides programmatic access to latent features on its website
“Our vision is to be the world’s most consumer-centric company, where customers can come to find anything they want to buy online.”-Jeff Bezos