Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos as an online bookstore and has evolved into the world's largest e-commerce company and dominant cloud computing provider. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company operates in over 30 countries and employs approximately 1.54 million people globally, making it one of the world's largest employers. Amazon is publicly traded on NASDAQ. Beyond retail e-commerce serving consumers and businesses, Amazon operates major divisions including Amazon Web Services (AWS), which dominates enterprise cloud infrastructure, Prime Video, Kindle publishing, physical retail stores, grocery operations, and logistics networks. The company's competitive advantages rest on operational efficiency, massive scale economies, and relentless customer-focused innovation. AWS represents a significant portion of company profit margins while retail operations drive customer acquisition and Prime membership loyalty.
Amazon's culture centers on fourteen explicitly stated Leadership Principles that emphasize customer obsession, ownership, bias for action, and high standards. The company maintains performance-oriented expectations with regular review cycles and a philosophy that employees should earn their position each day. Post-pandemic, Amazon shifted to hybrid work policies with return-to-office requirements at most locations, though specifics vary by role and team. The organization values rapid experimentation, data-driven decision making, and operational efficiency, and has recently been recognized as a top employer in Europe for employee experience and development opportunities.
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| Round | Closed | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Later | May 1997 | $54.0M | |
| Series C | Jun 1996 | $52.8M | Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers |
| Series B | Jun 1995 | $8.0M |