Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American multinational electronic commerce , a Fortune 500 company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States
It is the world 's largest online retailer.[4] The company also produces consumer electronics—notably the Amazon Kindle e-book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet computer—and is a major provider of cloud computing services.
Jeff Bezos incorporated the company (as Cadabra) in July 1994, and the site went online as amazon.com in 1995.[7] The company was renamed after the Amazon River, one of the largest rivers in the world,[7] which in turn was named after the Amazons, the legendary nation of female warriors in Greek mythology. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry.
Amazon 's initial business plan was unusual. The company did not expect a profit for four to five years. Its "slow" growth provoked stockholder complaints that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million or 1¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion. The profit, although it was modest, served to demonstrate that the business model could be profitable.[13] In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos the Person of the Year, recognizing the company 's success in popularizing online shopping.
Subsidiaries
• 2004: A9.com, a company focused on researching and building innovative technology.[47]
• 2004: Lab126, developers of integrated consumer electronics such as the Kindle.
• 2007: Endless.com, an e-commerce brand focusing on shoes.[48]
• 2007: Brilliance Audio, the largest independent audio book producer in the U.S.[49]
On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive
Links: http://w3techs.com/sites/info/amazon.com http://money.howstuffworks.com/amazon1.htm http://www.businessinsider.com/kindle-economics-2011-10