Amazon.com Inc.

What does Amazon own?
Amazon owns Amazon Web Services, Whole Foods Market, Ring, Twitch, Amazon MGM Studios, Alexa, Amazon Prime, Kindle, Fire TV, and Amazon Logistics. The company also owns Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company, and One Medical, a primary healthcare provider. Amazon has made over 120 acquisitions since its founding.

Is Amazon publicly traded?
Yes. Amazon trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol AMZN. The company has been publicly traded since its IPO in May 1997 at $18 per share.

Who founded Amazon?
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in July 1994 in Bellevue, Washington. He initially started the company as an online bookstore. Bezos served as CEO until July 2021, when Andy Jassy succeeded him. Bezos remains executive chairman.

Where is Amazon headquartered?
Amazon is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company's corporate offices are in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Amazon has major offices and fulfillment centers across the United States and internationally.

How many brands does Amazon own?
Amazon owns approximately 10 major brands including Amazon, AWS, Whole Foods, Ring, Twitch, Alexa, Amazon Prime, Amazon MGM Studios, Kindle, and Fire TV. The company has made over 120 acquisitions, many of which have been integrated into its existing operations.

Who owns Amazon?
Amazon is a publicly traded company with no single controlling shareholder. Jeff Bezos is the largest individual shareholder, holding approximately 9% of outstanding shares. Institutional investors including Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street are among the largest holders. All shares carry equal voting rights.

What is Amazon's revenue?
Amazon reported FY2025 net sales of $716.9 billion, up 12% year over year. Net income was $77.7 billion, or $7.17 per diluted share. AWS contributed $128.7 billion in revenue, growing 20% year over year.

What antitrust cases is Amazon facing?
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed an antitrust lawsuit in September 2023 alleging Amazon maintains monopoly power in its online marketplace. The case is ongoing. The EU has also investigated Amazon's marketplace practices, and the Digital Markets Act imposes obligations on Amazon as a gatekeeper.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in July 1994 in Bellevue, Washington, initially as an online bookstore. He chose books because they were easy to ship, had a vast catalog, and were standardized products. The site launched in July 1995. Amazon went public on NASDAQ in May 1997 at $18 per share, raising $54 million. At the time, the company had 256 employees and $15.7 million in revenue.

Amazon expanded beyond books in 1998, adding music and video sales. In 1999, the company added consumer electronics, toys, and games. The same year, Amazon launched Amazon Marketplace, allowing third-party sellers to list products alongside Amazon's own inventory. This third-party marketplace would become a major revenue driver.

The company survived the dot-com crash of 2000-2001 by cutting costs and focusing on operational efficiency. Amazon launched Amazon Web Services in 2006, beginning with storage (S3) and compute (EC2) services. AWS would grow to become the largest cloud infrastructure platform in the world and Amazon's most profitable business.

Key acquisitions include Zappos in 2009 for approximately $1.2 billion, Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775 million (later rebranded Amazon Robotics), Twitch Interactive in 2014 for approximately $970 million, Whole Foods Market in 2017 for $13.7 billion, Ring in 2018 for approximately $1 billion, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2021 for $8.45 billion. The Whole Foods acquisition gave Amazon a physical grocery footprint of approximately 500 stores. The MGM acquisition strengthened Amazon's Prime Video content library with franchises including James Bond.

Amazon launched Amazon Prime in 2005 as a free two-day shipping subscription service. Prime has since expanded to include streaming video, music, reading, and other benefits. The company launched the Kindle e-reader in 2007, creating a dominant position in e-books. Alexa and the Echo smart speaker launched in 2014, establishing Amazon in voice computing and smart home devices.

In 2020, Amazon acquired Zoox, a self-driving vehicle startup, for a reported $1.2 billion, entering autonomous transportation. In 2022, Amazon announced a $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical, expanding into primary healthcare. The proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of iRobot was abandoned in January 2024 after EU antitrust regulators indicated they would block the deal.

Andy Jassy succeeded Jeff Bezos as CEO on July 5, 2021. Bezos transitioned to executive chairman. Under Jassy, Amazon has focused on cost optimization, AI integration across products, and AWS growth. The company announced approximately 16,000 corporate layoffs in early 2026, following roughly 14,000 cuts in October 2025.

For FY2025, Amazon reported net sales of $716.9 billion, up 12% from $638.0 billion in FY2024. Net income was $77.7 billion, or $7.17 per diluted share, compared with $59.2 billion in FY2024. AWS revenue grew 20% to $128.7 billion, with operating income of $45.6 billion.

Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, committing to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. The company has signed the Science Based Targets initiative. Amazon is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally, with contracts for over 33.6 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity.

The company has faced criticism that its rapid growth in delivery infrastructure and data center operations conflicts with its climate commitments. Amazon's carbon footprint increased in some years despite its pledges, though the company reports progress in renewable energy procurement. Amazon's sustainability reporting is self-published and not independently certified.

Amazon has faced scrutiny over labor practices in its fulfillment centers, including concerns about warehouse conditions, injury rates, and unionization efforts. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island voted to unionize in 2022, forming the Amazon Labor Union. The company has challenged the unionization effort through legal channels. Amazon raised its minimum wage to $18 per hour for U.S. employees in 2021.

• Fortune World's Most Admired Companies: Amazon has consistently ranked among the top companies, frequently in the top 5 overall.
• Forbes Global 2000: Amazon ranks among the top 10 largest public companies globally by market capitalization.
• Fast Company Most Innovative Companies: Recognized for AWS innovations, logistics technology, and AI development.

Amazon faces antitrust scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed an antitrust lawsuit in September 2023 alleging Amazon maintains monopoly power through anti-competitive practices in its online marketplace. The case is ongoing as of 2026. The FTC has also challenged Amazon's Prime subscription enrollment and cancellation practices.

The European Union has investigated Amazon for using seller data to compete with third-party merchants on its marketplace. In 2022, Amazon agreed to changes in how it uses seller data to settle EU antitrust concerns. The EU Digital Markets Act, effective 2024, imposes additional obligations on Amazon as a designated gatekeeper.

Amazon abandoned its $1.4 billion acquisition of iRobot in January 2024 after EU antitrust regulators indicated they would block the deal, citing concerns about Amazon's ability to disadvantage competing robot vacuum products on its marketplace.

Labor controversies include warehouse working conditions, unionization disputes, and allegations of aggressive productivity quotas. The company has faced criticism over its environmental impact from packaging waste and delivery vehicle emissions. Amazon has pledged to use 100% recyclable packaging and has invested in electric delivery vehicles.