WHAT IS AMAZON ?
Amazon.com, Inc.,[1] doing businesməzɒn/, AM-ə-zon; UK also /ˈæməzən/, AM-ə-zən), is an American multinational technology company, engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.[5] It is considered one of the Big Five American technology companies; the other four are Alphabet (parent company of G, Meta (parent company of Facebook), and Microsoft.
Amazon was founded on July 5, 1994, by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington.[6] The company originally started as an online marketplace for books but gradually expanded its offerings to include a wide range of product categories. This diversification led to it being referred to as "The Everything Store".[7]
The company has multiple subsidiaries, including Amazon Web Services, providing cloud computing, Zoox, a self-driving car division, Kuiper Systems, a satellite Internet provider, and Amazon Lab126, a computer hardware R&D provider. Other subsidiaries include Ring, Twitch, IMDb, and Whole Foods Market. Its acquisition of Whole Foods in August 2017 for US$13.4 billion substantially increased its market share and presence as a physical retailer.[8] Amazon also distributes a variety of downloadable and streaming content through its Amazon Prime Video, MGM+, Amazon Music, Twitch, Audible and Wondery[9] units. It publishes books through its publishing arm, Amazon Publishing, film and television content through Amazon MGM Studios, including the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, which was acquired in March 2022, and owns Brilliance Audio and Audible, which produce and distribute audiobooks, respectively. Amazon also produces consumer electronics—most notably, Kindle e-readers, Echo devices, Fire tablets, and Fire TVs.
Amazon has a reputation as a disruptor of industries through technological innovation and aggressive reinvestment of profits into capital expenditures.[10][11][12][13] As of 2023, it is the world's largest online retailer and marketplace, smart speaker provider, cloud computing service through AWS,[14] live-streaming service through Twitch, and Internet company as measured by revenue and market share.[15] In 2021, it surpassed Walmart as the world's largest retailer outside of China, driven in large part by its paid subscription plan, Amazon Prime, which has close to 200 million subscribers worldwide.[16][17] It is the second-largest private employer in the United States.[18] As of October 2023, Amazon is the 12th-most visited website in the world and 82% of its traffic comes from the United States.[19][20] Amazon is also the global leader in research and development spending, with R&D expenditure of US$73 billion in 2022.[21]
Amazon has been criticized on various grounds, including but not limited to customer data collection practices, a toxic work culture, censorship, tax avoidance, and anti-competitive practices.
Amazon was founded on July 5, 1994, by Jeff Bezos after he relocated from New York City to Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle, to operate an online bookstore. Bezos chose the Seattle area for its abundance of technical talent from Microsoft and the University of Washington, as well as its smaller population for sales tax purposes and the proximity to a major book distribution warehouse in Roseburg, Oregon. Bezos also considered several other options, including Portland, Oregon, and Boulder, Colorado.[22] The company, originally named Cadabra, was founded in the converted garage of Bezos's house for symbolic reasons and was renamed to Amazon in November 1994.[23] The Amazon website launched for public sales on July 16, 1995, and initially sourced its books directly from wholesalers and publishers.[22][24]
Amazon went public in May 1997. It began selling music and videos in 1998, and began international operations by acquiring online sellers of books in the United Kingdom and Germany. In the subsequent year, it initiated the sale of a diverse range of products, including music, video games, consumer electronics, home improvement items, software, games, and toys.[25][26]
In 2002, it launched 2010.....2024 PRESENT Amazon purchased the Whole Foods Market supermarket chain in 2017.[33] It is the leading e-retailer in the United States with approximately US$178 billion net sales in 2017. It has over 300 million active customer accounts globally.[34]
Amazon saw large growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring more than 100,000 staff in the United States and Canada.[35] Some Amazon workers in the US, France, and Italy protested the company's decision to "run normal shifts" due to COVID-19's ease of spread in warehouses.[36][37] In Spain, the company faced legal complaints over its policies,[38] while a group of US Senators wrote an open letter to Bezos expressing concerns about workplace safety.[39]
On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he would step down as CEO to become executive chair of Amazon's board. The transition officially took place on July 5, 2021
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