Amazon (company)

Amazon.com, Inc., known simply as Amazon, is a big American technology company. It was started in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington. At first, Amazon was just an online bookstore, but it quickly grew to sell almost everything you can think of—people often call it “The Everything Store.” Today, Amazon is best known as the world’s biggest online shopping place, where you can buy things like electronics, books, food, clothing, and even car parts.

Amazon isn’t just a shopping site; it also offers many other services. It runs Amazon Web Services, which helps other companies with their computer needs. It has its own delivery service and even a self-driving car project. Amazon also owns popular services like Prime Video for movies and TV shows, Twitch for gaming, and Whole Foods Market for groceries. With its Amazon Prime subscription, which has over 200 million members around the world, Amazon has become one of the biggest companies on the planet.

Even though Amazon is very successful, it has faced some criticism. Some people worry about how the company treats its workers, its impact on the environment, and whether it treats small businesses fairly. Still, there’s no denying that Amazon has changed the way many of us shop and use technology every day.

History

Main article: History of Amazon

1994–2009

On July 5, 1994, Amazon was started by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle. It began as an online bookstore. Bezos chose this area because of its many technology workers and good location for business.

A few months later, the name was changed from Cadabra to Amazon. The website opened to the public on July 16, 1995, selling books from wholesalers and publishers. In 1997, Amazon shared its plans with the public.

In 1998, Amazon started selling music, videos, and other items internationally. In 2002, Amazon introduced Amazon Web Services, helping websites run better. This grew over the years to help businesses store and manage data.

In 2006, Amazon began a program letting small businesses use Amazon’s warehouses to store and ship their products.

2010–present

Amazon bought Whole Foods Market in 2017 and became the leading online shop in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon hired many new workers but faced some protests about safety.

In 2021, Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO, and Andy Jassy took over. Amazon has made many changes in recent years, including some job reductions to save money and adapt to new technology.

In 2026, Amazon plans to invest in building data centers in Louisiana, creating many new jobs. The company is also working on projects involving advanced technology.

Products and services

Main article: List of Amazon products and services

Amazon.com

Amazon.com is a shopping website where you can buy many things, like books, movies, music, toys, clothes, electronics, and even groceries. Amazon has websites for different countries, such as amazon.com for the US and amazon.co.uk for the UK.

In February 2024, Amazon introduced a helper named "Rufus" in the US. By July, it was available for all US customers. Rufus helps shoppers find product suggestions, gives advice on making shopping lists, compares products, and shares what other customers think about questions.

Amazon’s search results are partly influenced by special fees from sellers. The products and prices can differ depending on the country you visit Amazon in.

Merchant partnerships

Amazon has worked with many stores over the years. For example, in 2000, a toy store named Toys "R" Us made a deal with Amazon to be the only place to sell toys and baby products on the website. Later, Toys "R" Us made its own online store.

Amazon also worked with a bookstore called Borders, but Borders later decided to run its own online shop. In 2011, Amazon made a deal with DC Comics to sell digital versions of popular comic books like Superman and Batman.

Amazon also partners with the United States Postal Service to deliver packages on Sundays, starting in big cities like Los Angeles and New York.

Private-label products

Main article: List of Amazon brands

Amazon sells products under its own brand names, like phone chargers, batteries, and diaper wipes. One brand, AmazonBasics, started in 2009 and now sells many items, such as smartphone cases and computer mice.

Third-party sellers

Many people and small businesses sell their own products on Amazon. These sellers use Amazon to process sales and ship orders.

Affiliate program

People and websites can join Amazon’s affiliate program. If they link to Amazon and someone buys something after clicking the link, they earn a commission. This program is very popular and used by many websites.

Product reviews

Amazon lets people write reviews about products they’ve bought. Reviewers give products a rating from one to five stars. Amazon also lets people say if they found a review helpful.

Amazon sales rank

Amazon shows how popular a product is with a ranking called the Amazon Sales Rank. This helps people see which products are selling well.

Physical stores

Amazon opened physical bookstores in 2015 in Seattle. These stores closed in 2022. Amazon also tried opening other types of stores, like grocery shops, but later decided to focus more on online shopping.

Hardware and services

Amazon makes and sells many products, like the Alexa voice assistant, Amazon Music for music and videos, the Kindle for reading books, and tablets. In 2021, Amazon introduced Astro, a robot that can check on homes when you’re away. In 2023, Amazon started RXPass, a service that helps Prime members get prescription medicines for a monthly fee.

Subsidiaries

See also: List of mergers and acquisitions by Amazon

Amazon owns many different companies. Some of these are Amazon Web Services, which helps people use computers online; Audible, which sells audiobooks; and Twitch, a place where people watch gaming and other live videos. Amazon also owns Whole Foods Market, a grocery store chain.

Amazon Live

Amazon Live is a service where people can stream live videos showing products. This helps people learn more about items before they buy them.

Amazon Web Services

Main article: Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a part of Amazon that helps businesses and people use computer services online. Many companies around the world use AWS to run their websites and apps.

Audible

Main article: Audible (service)

Audible sells audiobooks, podcasts, and other spoken content. Amazon bought Audible in 2008.

Goodreads

Main article: Goodreads

Goodreads is a website where people talk about books and share what they’re reading. Amazon bought Goodreads in 2013.

Ring

Main article: Ring (company)

Ring makes smart doorbells and security cameras for homes. Amazon bought Ring in 2018.

Twitch

Main article: Twitch (service)

Twitch is a website where people watch live video games and other content. Amazon bought Twitch in 2014.

Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market is a grocery store that sells natural and organic foods. Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017.

Other Amazon subsidiaries include:

• A9.com, a technology research company
• Amazon Academy, an online learning platform for students
• Amazon Maritime, Inc., which helps manage shipping
• Amazon Pharmacy, an online service for prescription medicines
• Annapurna Labs, a technology company
• Brilliance Audio, an audiobook company
• ComiXology, a digital comics platform
• CreateSpace, a self-publishing service
• eero, a Wi-Fi company
• Health Navigator, a health service startup
• Junglee, a former shopping service in India
• Kuiper Systems, which works on satellite internet
• Lab126, which makes electronic products like the Kindle
• Shelfari, a former book social network
• Souq, an online shop in the Middle East
• Zoox, a self-driving car company

Amazon also works on clean energy projects and plans to build in new places like Canada.

Operations

Headquarters

Amazon's main offices are in more than 40 buildings in Seattle, spread across South Lake Union, Denny Triangle, and Downtown. The first 14 buildings in South Lake Union were developed by Vulcan, Inc. starting in 2008, with the first 11 bought by Amazon in 2012 for $1.16 billion. Before that, Amazon was based in rented space at the Pacific Medical Center in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood from 1998 to 2011.

Amazon is building a new complex with four tall buildings and four smaller ones in Seattle's Denny Triangle to be its main headquarters. This project, called "Rufus 2.0" after an early company dog, was approved by Seattle in 2012, with construction starting the next year. The first building, named Doppler, opened in December 2015.

Other major campuses

Amazon has major offices in Luxembourg for Europe and at Principal Place in Shoreditch, London for the UK.

On November 13, 2018, Amazon announced it would split its planned HQ2 between New York City and Northern Virginia. However, on February 14, 2019, Amazon canceled its New York City location. Amazon is also building a big operations center in Nashville, Tennessee.

On August 21, 2019, Amazon opened its biggest campus ever in Nanakramguda, Hyderabad, India. This is Amazon's first campus outside the United States and includes the largest Amazon-owned building in the world. The campus covers 9.5 acres and has over 15,000 employees.

Amazon plans to build a major campus in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, which will hold 15,000 employees by 2025. Amazon opened its first Bellevue office in 2017, returning to the city where it was founded in 1995. The biggest building in Bellevue is Sonic, a 42-story office building with 1 million square feet of space that opened in 2024. The Bellevue campus will also include the 43-story Bellevue 600 tower, planned to be the tallest building in the city and the tallest developed by Amazon.

Global corporate offices

While much of Amazon's software development happens in Seattle, the company has developers in centers around the world. Some of these sites are run by an Amazon subsidiary called A2Z Development.

Retail

Amazon has many different retail brands. Most stores are in the United States, but Whole Foods also has stores in Canada and the United Kingdom, and Amazon Go has six locations in London under the Amazon Fresh name.

• Whole Foods Market (527 locations as of September 2021)
• Amazon Books
• Amazon Go
• Amazon Go Grocery (1)
• Amazon Fresh
• Amazon 4-Star - a collection of new and trending items from Amazon.com that are rated four stars or higher.
• Amazon Pop-Up (7) - small kiosks which sell Amazon devices such as Echo speakers, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, and Fire TV devices, Facebook Portal Plus and Oculus Quest are also found; usually housed in malls. All 87 were closed in May 2019 with 5 initially reopening later on.
• 365 by Whole Foods Market (12) - In January 2019, it was announced that the 365 by Whole Foods Market concept would be discontinued; all existing stores would be converted into regular Whole Foods stores.

Logistics

Amazon uses many different ways to deliver packages. Amazon-branded services include:

• Amazon Air, a cargo airline for big shipments, with final delivery done by Amazon Flex, Amazon Logistics, or the U.S. Postal Service.
• Amazon Flex, a smartphone app that lets people deliver packages using their own cars. Deliveries can be one or two hours Prime Now, same or next day Amazon Fresh groceries, and standard Amazon.com orders, plus orders from local stores that work with Amazon.
• Amazon Freight, a freight brokerage and logistics service
• Amazon Logistics, where Amazon works with small businesses (called "Delivery Service Partners") to deliver packages. Each business has about 20–40 Amazon vans, and their workers wear Amazon uniforms. As of December 2020, it operates in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
• Amazon Prime Air is an experimental drone delivery service for Amazon Prime members in some cities.

Amazon employs people to work at its warehouses, big distribution centers, staffed "Amazon Hub Locker+" locations, and delivery stations where drivers pick up packages. As of December 2020, Amazon does not hire delivery drivers as employees.

Rakuten Intelligence estimated that in 2020 in the United States, 56% of last-mile deliveries were done by Amazon's own services (mostly in cities), 30% by the United States Postal Service (mostly in rural areas), and 14% by UPS. In April 2021, Amazon told investors it had increased its own delivery capacity by 50% in the past year, including the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Pickup points

Besides Amazon Lockers, Amazon has about 30 staffed pickup spots in the United States and over 800 independent ones in India. The US spots have many Amazon Lockers and a place to return items. The India spots are in existing stores where customers wait for an employee to get their package.

Supply chain

Amazon started its distribution network in 1997 with two fulfillment centers in Seattle and New Castle, Delaware. Amazon has several types of distribution places: cross-dock centers, fulfillment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations, Prime now hubs, and Prime air hubs. There are 75 fulfillment centers and 25 sortation centers with over 125,000 employees. Workers do five main jobs: unloading and checking items; putting items in storage and noting where they are; getting items for orders from where they are stored; packing orders; and shipping them. Computers track where items are and guide workers, who carry handheld computers to check their progress. Some warehouses use robots (Amazon Robotics) to move items.

In September 2006, Amazon started a program called FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) where it stores, packs, and sends out products for small sellers.

Amazon fulfillment centers are big buildings with hundreds or thousands of workers. They do the same five jobs: unloading and checking items; storing items and noting their location; getting items for orders; packing orders; and shipping them. Computers track items and guide workers, who may walk 10 or more miles a day.

In newer fulfillment centers, items are stored on pods that robots (Amazon Robotics) bring to workers. In the United Kingdom, early staffing was done by Randstad NV and other temporary agencies. In the United States, many workers are hired directly by Amazon and may get stock shares or sign-on bonuses, while others are hired temporarily for seasonal work. "When we have permanent jobs open, we hire our best temporary workers," said an Amazon spokesperson. Amazon bought Kiva Systems, a warehouse robot company, in 2012.

Amazon fulfillment centers can also store and send out items for other sellers for a fee. These sellers can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to ship for other places like eBay or their own websites.

On March 20, 2020, Amazon removed metal detectors from its warehouses after a worker tested positive for COVID-19. Amazon also started a "6 feet rule" to keep workers six feet apart. This rule ended when the Federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 expired on May 11, 2023.

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  Amazon.fr fulfillment center in Lauwin-Planque, France

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  Amazon.es fulfillment center in San Fernando de Henares, Spain

Amazon.co.uk fulfillment center in [Glenrothes](/wiki/Glenrothes), [Scotland](/wiki/Scotland), [UK](/wiki/United_Kingdom)

Amazon.de fulfillment center in [Graben](/wiki/Graben,_Bavaria), [Germany](/wiki/Germany)

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  Amazon.co.jp fulfillment center in Ichikawa, Japan

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  Amazon.co fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, US featuring Amazon Robotics

Corporate affairs

Board of directors

As of August 2025, Amazon’s board of directors included important leaders such as Jeff Bezos, the company’s executive chairman, and Andy Jassy, its president and CEO. Other members had experience in technology, business, and leadership roles.

Ownership

The 10 largest shareholders of Amazon at the end of October 2025 are listed here:

Finances

Amazon is mainly a shopping website where companies can sell their products. Amazon earns money by taking a small part of each sale and also lets companies pay to highlight their products. By 2018, Amazon was among the biggest companies in the United States. In 2021, Amazon made over $469 billion in sales, which was a big increase from earlier years.

Amazon’s value as a company went above $1 trillion in early 2020 after sharing its results from late 2019.

Corporate culture

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, was well-known for his yearly letters to people who own parts of the company. These letters showed his ideas and plans for the company. He strongly believed in focusing on what customers want. Employees at Amazon could win awards for trying new ideas and taking action.

Lobbying

Amazon works with government leaders in the United States and other countries on many topics, such as online sales rules, safety for transportation, and protecting information. The company has spent millions of dollars each year to share its ideas with government groups. Amazon has also talked with groups about new ways to deliver packages using drones. The company also works on policies about the environment and energy use.

Criticism and controversies

Main article: Criticism of Amazon

Amazon has faced many criticisms over the years. People have raised concerns about the company's actions, such as working with law enforcement, changing how people buy books, and the conditions in its warehouses. There have also been issues about how Amazon treats small businesses and its effect on the environment.

Some people worry that Amazon has too much control over what content is available online. The company has also been accused of pushing suppliers to lower prices and has faced legal issues over children making purchases without their parents' permission. In recent years, Amazon has changed some of its policies after receiving feedback about privacy and fairness.