Editing Amazon (company) (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of Amazon}}

=== 1994–2009<!-- I'm making this arbitrary cutoff; please discuss on talk page since we ideally need consensus on which cutoff years to use --> ===
[[File:Amazon's founding site in Bellevue, Washington - exterior.jpg|thumb|right|Jeff Bezos's home in [[Bellevue, Washington]], where the company was founded in 1994]]

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]].<ref name="SeattleTimes-25">{{cite news |last=Romano |first=Benjamin |date=June 29, 2019 |title=Amazon at 25: The magic that changed everything |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-25-the-magic-that-changed-everything/ |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |accessdate=July 7, 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Spector |first=Robert |date=April 16, 2000 |title=Homegrown Amazon |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20000416&slug=4015638 |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=July 7, 2024}}</ref> The Amazon website launched for public sales on July 16, 1995, and initially sourced its books directly from wholesalers and publishers.<ref name="SeattleTimes-25"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Perez |first=Elizabeth |date=June 28, 2019 |title=Store on internet is open book — Amazon.com boasts more than 1 million titles on web |page=E1 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/store-on-internet-is-open-book-amazon-com-boasts-more-than-1-million-titles-on-web-from-the-archives/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=July 7, 2024}}</ref>

Amazon went [[public company|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.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Anders |first1=George |last2=Tessler |first2=Joelle |date=June 8, 1999 |title=Amazon.com Steps Into World Of Online, Downloadable Music |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB92877726979442347 |access-date=September 27, 2022 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927184149/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB92877726979442347 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Anders |first=George |date=July 13, 1999 |title=Amazon.com Unveils Plans to Open Two More 'Stores' on Its Web Site |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB931823473942188601 |access-date=September 27, 2022 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927184149/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB931823473942188601 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2002, it launched [[Amazon Web Services]] (AWS), which initially focused on providing APIs for web developers to build [[web application]]s on top of Amazon's ecommerce platform.<ref>{{Cite press release |date=July 16, 2002 |title=Amazon.com Launches Web Services; Developers Can Now Incorporate Amazon.com Content and Features into Their Own Web Sites; Extends ''Welcome Mat'' for Developers |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-launches-web-services |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=Amazon.com Press Center |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210205114255/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-launches-web-services |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |date=March 19, 2003 |title=Amazon.com Web Services Announces Trio of Milestones - New Tool Kit, Enhanced Web Site and 25,000 Developers in the Program |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-web-services-announces-trio-milestones-new-tool-kit |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=Amazon.com Press Center |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927192430/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-web-services-announces-trio-milestones-new-tool-kit |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, AWS was expanded to provide website popularity statistics and web crawler data from the Alexa Web Information Service.<ref>{{Cite press release |date=October 4, 2004 |title=New Amazon Web Services Offerings Give Developers Unprecedented Access to Amazon Product Data and Technology, and First-Ever Access to Data Compiled by Alexa Internet |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new-amazon-web-services-offerings-give-developers-unprecedented |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=Amazon.com Press Center |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927192431/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new-amazon-web-services-offerings-give-developers-unprecedented |url-status=live }}</ref> AWS later shifted toward providing enterprise services with [[Amazon S3|Simple Storage Service]] (S3) in 2006,<ref>{{Cite press release |date=March 14, 2006 |title=Amazon Web Services Launches |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-web-services-launches-amazon-s3-simple-storage-service |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=Amazon.com Press Center |archive-date=November 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115112821/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-web-services-launches-amazon-s3-simple-storage-service |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud|Elastic Compute Cloud]] (EC2) in 2008,<ref>{{Cite press release |date=October 23, 2008 |title=Amazon Web Services Launches Amazon EC2 for Windows |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-web-services-launches-amazon-ec2-windows |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=Amazon.com Press Center |quote=Additionally, AWS today announced that Amazon EC2 is now Generally Available, having successfully exited its beta period and now offers a Service Level Agreement (SLA) |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927192429/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-web-services-launches-amazon-ec2-windows |url-status=live }}</ref> allowing companies to rent data storage and computing power from Amazon. In 2006, Amazon also launched the'' Fulfillment by Amazon ''program, which allowed individuals and small companies (called "third-party sellers") to sell products through Amazon's warehouses and fulfillment infrastructure.<ref name=amazon-fulfill-press>{{Cite press release |date=September 19, 2006 |title=Amazon Launches New Services to Help Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Enhance Their Customer Offerings by Accessing Amazon's Order Fulfillment, Customer Service, and Website Functionality |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-launches-new-services-help-small-and-medium-sized |access-date=September 27, 2022 |publisher=Amazon.com Press Center |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927192433/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-launches-new-services-help-small-and-medium-sized |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 2010–present<!-- should be expanded and talk about Amazon's growth --> ===
Amazon purchased the [[Whole Foods Market]] supermarket chain in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Amazon.com - History & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazoncom |access-date=January 3, 2019 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608125826/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazoncom |url-status=live }}</ref> It is the leading e-retailer in the United States with approximately US$178 billion [[Sales (accounting)#Gross sales and net sales|net sales]] in 2017. It has over 300 million active customer accounts globally.<ref>{{Citation |last=Schmidt |first=Gordon B. |title=Amazon |date=2020 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483375519.n28 |encyclopedia=The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society |access-date=May 1, 2023 |place=Thousand Oaks, California|publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |language=en |doi=10.4135/9781483375519.n28 |isbn=978-1-4833-7551-9|s2cid=240656642 }}</ref> <!-- We jumped 11 years of history. Didn't something happen in those 11 years? -->

Amazon saw large growth during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], hiring more than 100,000 staff in the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite news |last=Otto |first=Ben |date=September 14, 2020 |title=Amazon to Hire 100,000 in US and Canada |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-hire-100-000-in-u-s-and-canada-11600071208 |access-date=December 15, 2020 |archive-date=December 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213172920/https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-hire-100-000-in-u-s-and-canada-11600071208 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |date=April 14, 2020 |title=Amazon hiring spree as orders surge under lockdown |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52276149 |access-date=April 14, 2020 |archive-date=July 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707182733/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52276149 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="FTMarch19">{{cite news |date=March 19, 2020 |title=Amazon workers protest over normal shifts despite Covid-19 cases |work=[[Financial Times]] |url=https://www.ft.com/content/08395e49-0bb1-4f49-a6f5-c6639ce3d719 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/08395e49-0bb1-4f49-a6f5-c6639ce3d719 |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> In Spain, the company faced legal complaints over its policies,<ref name="BBCMarch31">{{Cite news |date=March 31, 2020 |title=Amazon workers strike over virus protection |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52096273 |access-date=March 31, 2020 |archive-date=December 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211073405/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52096273 |url-status=live }}</ref> while a group of US Senators wrote an open letter to Bezos expressing concerns about workplace safety.<ref name="TheVergeMarch31">{{cite web |last=Dzieza |first=Josh |date=March 30, 2020 |title=Amazon warehouse workers walk out in rising tide of COVID-19 protests |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199942/amazon-warehouse-coronavirus-covid-new-york-protest-walkout |access-date=March 31, 2020 |website=The Verge |language=en |archive-date=July 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712090322/https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199942/amazon-warehouse-coronavirus-covid-new-york-protest-walkout |url-status=live }}</ref>

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, with former CEO of AWS [[Andy Jassy]] replacing him as CEO.<ref>{{cite web |agency=Associated Press |date=February 2, 2021 |title=Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO |url=https://fox8.com/news/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-will-step-down-as-ceo/ |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208045855/https://fox8.com/news/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-will-step-down-as-ceo/ |archive-date=February 8, 2021 |access-date=February 2, 2021 |website=[[Fox8]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Haselton|first=Todd|date=February 2, 2021|title=Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy to take over in Q3|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/jeff-bezos-to-step-down-as-amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-to-take-over-in-q3.html|access-date=February 2, 2021|website=CNBC|language=en|archive-date=November 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104005654/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/jeff-bezos-to-step-down-as-amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-to-take-over-in-q3.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2023, Amazon cut over 18,000 jobs, primarily in consumer retail and its human resources division in an attempt to cut costs.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64171008 | title=Amazon to shed over 18,000 jobs as it cuts costs, CEO says | date=January 5, 2023 | publisher=BBC News | access-date=January 5, 2023 | archive-date=January 5, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105021351/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64171008 | url-status=live }}</ref>

On November 8, 2023, a plan was adopted for [[Jeff Bezos]] to sell approximately 50 million [[Share (finance)|shares]] of the company over the next year (the deadline for the entire sales plan is January 31, 2025). The first step was the sale of 12 million shares for about $2 billion.<ref>{{Cite news|language=en|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/jeff-bezos-sells-roughly-2-billion-of-amazon-shares/articleshow/107594980.cms|title=Jeff Bezos sells roughly $2 billion of Amazon shares|website=The Economic Times|date=February 11, 2024 |access-date=2024-02-25|archive-date=2024-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225192713/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/jeff-bezos-sells-roughly-2-billion-of-amazon-shares/articleshow/107594980.cms}}</ref>

On February 26, 2024, Amazon became a component of the [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/documents/indexnews/announcements/20240220-1470711/1470711_djiadjtawbajblu-feb2024.pdf |title=Amazon Set to Join Dow Jones Industrial Average and Uber to Join Dow Jones Transportation Average | publisher=[[S&P Dow Jones Indices]] |date=February 20, 2024 |access-date=February 26, 2024}}</ref>

On December 19, 2024, Amazon workers, led by the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters]] labor union, went on strike against Amazon in at least four US states, with workers in other facilities in the United States being welcomed to join the strike as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://teamster.org/2024/12/teamsters-launch-largest-strike-against-amazon-in-american-history/|title=Teamsters Launch Strike Against Amazon In American|publisher=International Brotherhood of Teamsters|date=December 19, 2024|accessdate=December 19, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teamsters-announce-strike-amazon-holiday-delivery-rush-rcna184810|title=Teamsters announce strike against Amazon amid holiday delivery rush|first=Marlene|last=Lenthang|publisher=NBC News|date=December 19, 2024|accessdate=December 19, 2024}}</ref>

On April 2, 2025, it was reported by various media outlets that Amazon had made a bid to buy the social media platform [[TikTok]] in order to save the platform from facing a US ban set to take effect on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The cost of the bid has yet to be announced.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Palmer |first=Annie |date=April 2, 2025 |title=Amazon submits bid for TikTok as ban deadline nears |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/02/amazon-submits-bid-for-tiktok-as-ban-deadline-nears.html |access-date=April 2, 2025 |work=[[CNBC]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Hirsch |first1=Lauren |last2=Haberman |first2=Maggie |last3=Kanno-Youngs |first3=Zolan |last4=Weise |first4=Karen |last5=Maheshwari |first5=Sapna |date=April 2, 2025 |title=Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the U.S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/business/media/amazon-tiktok-bid.html |access-date=April 2, 2025 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cerullo |first=Megan |date=April 2, 2025 |title=Amazon tells White House its interested in buying TikTok |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-bid-tiktok-bytedance-deadline/ |access-date=April 2, 2025 |work=[[CBS News]]}}</ref>