Editing Amazon (company) (section)

=== 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>