Amazon (company)

Amazon.com, Inc. (doing business asAmazon) is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, entertainment, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington, the company started as an online book marketplace that gradually expanded to include virtually all consumer products as well as many other categories, positioned as "The Everything Store".

As of 2026 it was the world's biggest online retailer. Amazon sells books, electronics, pharmaceuticals, car parts, video games, dining products, jewelry, food, music, and sports equipment.

The company has multiple subsidiaries, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides cloud computing; Zoox, a self-driving car division; satellite Internet provider Kuiper Systems; and Amazon Lab126, a computer hardware R&D provider. Other subsidiaries include Ring, Twitch, IMDb, and grocer Whole Foods Market. Amazon distributes downloadable and streaming content through its Amazon Prime Video, MGM+, Amazon Music, Twitch, Audible, and Wondery units. It publishes books through its publishing arm, Amazon Publishing; produces and distributes film and television content through Amazon MGM Studios, including the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio; and owns Brilliance Audio and Audible, which produce and distribute audiobooks, respectively. Amazon produces consumer electronics, most notably Kindle e-readers, Echo devices, Fire tablets, and Fire TVs.

Amazon has a reputation as an industry disruptor through innovation and aggressive reinvestment of profits. As of 2023, it was the largest online retailer and marketplace, smart speaker provider, cloud computing service provider through AWS, live-streaming service provider through Twitch, and Internet company as measured by revenue and market share. In 2021, it surpassed Walmart as the world's largest retailer outside of China, supported by its subscription plan, Amazon Prime, which had 200 million subscribers worldwide. It is the second-largest private employer in the US and the world's second-largest company and the US by revenue as of 2024 (after Walmart). As of October 2024, Amazon was the world's 12th-most visited website. 84% of its traffic comes from the US.

Amazon has been criticized for its alleged business practices, including surveillance partnerships, poor working conditions, anti-union efforts, environmental harm, anticompetitive behavior, censorship controversies, and exploitative treatment of small businesses and suppliers.