Redefining RetailĪmazon – named after the world’s largest river – continually took shopping convenience to newer levels.īefore Amazon’s founding on July 5, 1994, shoppers had to travel to stores to discover and buy things. company – behind Apple and Microsoft – with a market capitalization of around US$1.7 trillion, greater than the gross domestic product of all but a dozen or so countries. Today, Amazon is the third-most valuable U.S. Within weeks, the bell was ringing so frequently employees had to turn it off.īut Bezos – who will remain at the company – set his sights on making it an “everything store.” After achieving dominance in retail, the company would go on to become a sprawling and powerful global conglomerate in numerous lines of business.

Amazon announced Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO almost 27 years after he founded the company to sell books to customers over dial-up modems.Īmazon wasn’t the first bookstore to sell online, but it wanted to be “ Earth’s biggest.” When it first launched, a bell would ring in the company’s Seattle headquarters every time an order was placed.

Amazon command and conquer generals