Amazon.com, Inc. is a large American technology company known for its online retail operations. The company is also involved in cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Amazon is considered one of the "Big Five" American technology companies, alongside Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in Bellevue, Washington. Initially, the company was an online marketplace for books, but it quickly expanded its product offerings.
In May 1997, Amazon went public, marking a significant milestone in its growth trajectory.
In 1998, Amazon expanded its product offerings to include music and videos. The company also began its international expansion by acquiring online booksellers in the UK and Germany.
In 2000, Amazon and Toys "R" Us initiated a 10-year exclusive agreement, valued at US$50 million annually plus a percentage of sales, positioning Toys "R" Us as the sole provider of toys and baby products on Amazon's platform.
In 2001, Amazon entered a similar agreement with Borders Group, where they would co-manage Borders.com as a co-branded service.
In 2002, Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), initially providing APIs for web developers to build applications using Amazon's e-commerce platform.
In 2004, AWS expanded its offerings to include website popularity statistics and web crawler data from Alexa Web Information Service.
In 2004, Toys "R" Us filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that Amazon had allowed third-party sellers to offer products in categories where Toys "R" Us held exclusive rights, due to a perceived lack of variety in Toys "R" Us inventory.
In 2006, Amazon introduced the Fulfillment by Amazon program, enabling individuals and small businesses to sell through Amazon's infrastructure. The company also launched Simple Storage Service (S3) as part of AWS.
In 2006, a court ruled in favor of Toys "R" Us, permitting them to terminate their agreement with Amazon and establish their own independent e-commerce website. Subsequently, Toys "R" Us received US$51 million in damages.
In 2007, Borders Group opted out of the agreement with Amazon, planning to establish its own online store.
In 2008, AWS further expanded with the launch of Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), enabling companies to rent computing power from Amazon.
In 2008, Amazon.com recorded 615 million annual visitors.
On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com secured an exclusive digital rights partnership with DC Comics, covering popular titles like Superman, Batman, and others. This partnership led prominent bookstores, including Barnes & Noble, to remove these titles from their physical shelves.
In December 2011, Amazon faced criticism from small businesses for a one-day promotion of its new Price Check app, which offered a 5% discount to shoppers who used the app to compare prices in physical stores and then purchased the same item from Amazon.
On May 24, 2012, Amazon discontinued its corporate membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in response to protests at its shareholders' meeting.
In 2013, Amazon spent approximately $3.5 million on lobbying the United States federal government.
In July 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the company was promoting in-app purchases to children without obtaining parental consent.
Amazon's lobbying expenditures increased to about $5 million in 2014.
In 2014, Amazon expanded its lobbying activities, specifically to seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its drone delivery program.
In 2015, Amazon's lobbying expenditures rose again, reaching around $9.5 million.
In August 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market for US$13.4 billion, significantly expanding its physical retail presence.
In 2017, Amazon established itself as the leading e-retailer in the U.S. with approximately US$178 billion in net sales. Globally, the company had over 300 million active customer accounts.
Amazon prohibited the sale of skin-lightening products in 2019 following pressure from health and environmental activists in Minnesota.
Amazon significantly increased its lobbying efforts in 2019, spending $16.8 million and employing a team of 104 lobbyists.
In 2019, Amazon announced its fourth-quarter results, which subsequently led to its market capitalization exceeding US$1 trillion in early February 2020.
In February 2020, Amazon's market capitalization surpassed US$1 trillion once more, following the release of its fourth-quarter 2019 earnings report.
In September 2020, Amazon moved a step closer to implementing its drone delivery program after receiving a crucial certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
On February 2, 2021, Jeff Bezos announced he would step down as CEO to assume the role of executive chair of Amazon's board.
On July 5, 2021, Andy Jassy, the former CEO of AWS, replaced Jeff Bezos as Amazon's CEO.
In March 2022, Amazon acquired the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio, further expanding its content production capabilities.
By 2022, visits to amazon.com had significantly increased, surpassing 2 billion visits per month, making it the 14th most visited website globally.
In 2022, the New York state court of appeals dismissed a lawsuit filed by state attorney-general Letitia James against Amazon.
In January 2023, Amazon cut over 18,000 jobs, mostly in consumer retail and human resources, as part of a cost-cutting initiative.
As of October 2023, Amazon's website ranked as the 12th most visited globally, with 82% of its traffic originating from the United States.
On November 8, 2023, a plan was adopted for Jeff Bezos to sell about 50 million shares of Amazon over the following year, concluding by January 31, 2025. The initial phase involved the sale of 12 million shares for roughly $2 billion.
By 2023, Amazon had become the world's leading online retailer, marketplace, and provider of various services like cloud computing and live streaming, based on revenue and market share.
In 2024, after years of criticism for providing law enforcement with footage from its Ring home security cameras without a warrant, Ring discontinued this practice.
January 31, 2025, marked the deadline for Jeff Bezos's plan to sell approximately 50 million shares of Amazon.
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