History of Amazon

Amazon started in 1994 when Jeff Bezos established an online bookstore, choosing books as his first product because of their universal appeal. Despite hurdles and challenges during the following years, Amazon focused on customer service, innovative technology, and aggressive expansion that helped it grow rapidly. Today, Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world, operating a wide range of industries.

The name “Amazon” wasn’t Bezos’ first choice. “Cadabra” (as in Abra Cadabra) was his first option for the business name, under which he even incorporated the company back when starting out. However, very soon after, Bezos changed his mind, supposedly because his trademark lawyer misheard the word as “cadaver” – not quite the image you’d like your bookstore business to be associated with. Eventually, Bezos took a shine to “Amazon” as the brand name, not only because of the exotic allure, but also because it’s the largest and longest river in the world, and that would fit really well with his gr

There’s a common misconception that Jeff Bezos was the owner of Amazon up until recently, when he stepped down as CEO in 2021, and people are wondering who owns the company now. The thing is, Bezos wasn’t the owner even before he gave up his CEO role. As you can see on the Amazon history timeline, Amazon IPO-ed in 1997, so it’s been publicly owned since then. With 12.3% of outstanding shares in the company, Bezos is still the largest shareholder, followed by Andrew Jassy and Douglas Herrington as top individual shareholders, and by Vanguard Group, Blackrock and State Street as institutional sh